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THE UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA
LIBRARY
THE WILMER COLLECTION
OF CIVIL WAR NOVELS
PRESENTED BY
RICHARD H. WILMER, JR.
■feMttftCXiaECTJON
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2009 with funding from
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil
http://www.archive.org/details/jedboysadventureOOgoss
Smash 'em, smash 'em, boys ! " — Page 401.
JED
A BOY'S ADYENTUEES IIT THE
AEMY OF '61-^65
A STOBY OF BATTLE AND PBISON, OF PEBIL
AND ESCAPE
WARREN LEE GOSS
Author of "The Soldier's Story of His Captivity at Ander-
son ville and Other Prisons," "The Recollections of
A Private," in the Century War Series, etc.
NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.
13 AsTOR Place
Copyright, 1889, by
Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
C. J. PETERS & SON,
Typographers and Electrotypers,
145 High Street, Boston.
TO THE
Sons and Daughters of My Comrades
OF THE
" GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC."
602930
PREFACE,
TN this story the author has aimed to furnish
true pictures of scenes in the great civil war,
and not to produce sensational effects. The inci-
dents of the book are real ones, di'awn in part from
the writer's personal experiences and observations,
as a soldier of the Union, during that war. He is
also indebted to many comrades for reminiscences
of battle and prison life. The perilous escape of
Jed and Dick, from Andersonville down the Flint
and Appalachicola Rivers, to the Gulf of Mexico, is
in substance the narrative of a comrade whom the
writer knew at Andersonville, and afterwards met
when the war had closed. The descriptions of the
prison are especially truthful, for in them the au-
thor briefly tells what he himself saw.
There is not a description of battle or camp scene
in the book that is not as faithful to the reality as
the author can make it, and he believes that these
sketches will be recognized as true, by the veterans
1
2 PREFACE.
of the war who may chance to read them to their
boys and girls.
If it be objected that boys of the age of Jed
and Dick were too young for soldiers, the writer
will say, that few realize how young were the men
who fought the battles of the Republic. In many
i-egiments the average age of those in the ranks
was less than twenty-one years, and it was not un-
usual to see boys of fifteen and sixteen carrying
muskets, enduring the hardships, and bearing the
scars of battle.
The writer has attempted to portray a soldier's
life as boy soldiers saw it; and if he has failed
therein, lie has failed in his purpose of conveying
to the youth of to-day a reflection of that patriotic
and self-sacrificing spirit which restored to us the
blessings of peace, " one country and one flag."
W. L. G.
Norwich, Conn., May, 1889.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Jumping from the Frying-Pan into the
Fire 5
II. A Change of Scene 18
III. In the Guard-House 26
lY. Charleston on the Eve of the Rebel-
lion 33
V. The Curtain of War Rises 42
VI. Home Once More 57
VII. Making Ready 63
VIII. Volunteers in Washington 75
IX. On the Peninsula 83
X. Before Yorktown 95
XL Pursuit and Battle 106
XII. Marching on 117
XIII. In the Saddle 125
XIV. Retreat to the James River .... 138
XV. A Prisoner 150
XVI. Jed's Story . 162
XVII. A Convalescent's Glimpse of Belle
Isle in 1862 175
XVIII. In the Parole Camp 190
XIX. On Furlough at Home 206
XX. In the Battle of Chancellorsville . 222
XXL Marching on to Battle 239
3
4 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
XXII. On the Battle-field of Gettysburg . 248
XXIII. After Battle 262
XXIV. Grant takes Command 272
XXV. Andersonville Prison 287
XXVI. Life and Death in Prison 298
XXVII. In the Jaws of Death 314
XXVIII. Tunnelling Out 329
XXIX. To THE KiVER 338
XXX. Down the River 347
XXXI. A Nest in the Cypress 362
XXXII. On the Appalachicola Bay 376
XXXIII. Under the old Flag Again 391
XXXIV. The Last Days of the War 397
JED
A BOY^S ADVENTURES IN THE ARMY
OF '61 AND '65.
CHAPTER I.
JUMPING FROM THE FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE.
BEFORE the war began I had enlisted. In
the year 1855 I was a boy twelve years of
age, and even more wilful, intractable, and head-
strong than boys of that age usually are. My
mother having died before I was old enough to
comprehend the full meaning of her loss, I lived
alone with my father, a hard-working mechanic,
who had always provided a good home for his
family until the hard times following a financial
panic had thrown him out of work. This, together
with the death of my mother, had caused him to
wander away in search of work or adventure,
leaving me to the care of a maiden aunt about
twenty-five years of age, who lived in the small
village of Centerboro, thirty miles from Boston.
She was known to the villagers as " Miss Tempy,"
an abbreviation of the name of Temperance. She
was a kind-hearted woman, and devoted to the
5
6 JED'S ADVENTURES.
interests of my father, who was her only brother.
Like many childless people, she had a weakness in
imagining she knew all about the management of
children. Whether this conceit was founded on
fact or fancy is immaterial to this narrative, it being
sufficient to say that her notions of a boy's capa-
city for obedience did not exactly coincide with
mine. She was not largely endowed with this
world's goods, but was in the main generous and
motherly ; and, when not possessed by an excruci-
ating and peculiar sense of duty towards me, her
evident fondness for me made me love her as much
as I was capable of loving anything except play
and mischief.
Upon the subject of obedience, which included
keeping myself and my clothing clean and whole,
her views and my own widely diverged. The
blaze of an irrepressible conflict, if smothered at
times in my own breast from motives of prudence,
flamed out constantly towards me, and created a
corresponding resistance on my part. But I have
long seen my own errors and faults, and in maturer
years have repented with many bitter regrets of my
course of life at that period. I cannot but believe
that the mistake of those who have charge of boys
often consists in attempting to govern them too
much, rather than too little. To be met at every
turn by some inflexible rule is too much for the
best of boys, and often results in the reverse of good
to them. The attempts to govern on the part of
FROM FRYING-PAN INTO FIRE. 7
my aunt were fitful and violent, and were a con-
stant source of irritation to me.
My aunt had at first received letters and money
from my father after his arrival in a far-off West-
ern settlement, where he had taken up government
land ; and then, for some reason I never understood,
all communications and remittances ceased. From
this time he dropped out of my life, until, long
years afterwards, the threads of his life were again
interwoven with mine by the shuttle-like events of
the great civil war.
I was then at the age when a boy begins to think
himself capable of self-government, and therefore
is often in rebellion against all control. My aunt,
as I have already hinted, had spasms of strict gov-
ernment, sandwiched with occasional humoring and
petting ; and I, on my part, had seasons of genuine
repentance, as well as of rebellion.
A boy, if not brought up under restraining fam-
ily influences, especially at the age mentioned, is at
best but an untamed animal, whose repulsion to
soap and water and discipline is in constant con-
flict with rules made for his restriction. If a boy
at that age cannot be governed by love and reason,
he might better not be governed at all ; though it
must be confessed it is sometimes hard to deter-
mine where a boy's love or reason has an existence.
My aunt's nervous irritability increased, while
my love for mischief and adventure set at defiance
her authority. To make me attend church or school
8 JED'S ADVENTURES.
regularly, when she was too ill to accompany me,
was finally beyond her power. I had passed my
thirteenth birthday when, one summer day, I not
only failed to go to school, but got into the quag-
mire of a swamp I was exploring. A new suit of
clothes was wet and covered with mud by being
submerged with me, and my aunt's temper and
endurance failed her when I brought home with me
the same afternoon a ragamuffin of the neighbor-
hood, known as Jed, whom I loved and admired just
in proportion as his life and clothing and conduct
were at variance with my aunt's ideas of propriety.
Hence it was that my Aunt Tempy's patience
gave out, and my endurance reached a climax, that
afternoon, when, in a rage, she shut Jed and myself
and his dog, which had accompanied us, into a back
room without supper, and then brought out a long-
threatened stick from its hiding-place, and ener-
getically scored her displeasure upon both Jed and
myself. It was the worst wliipping she had ever
given me, but it would have been still worse had
her strength equalled her rage. It may be amus-
ing to remember now the dance she gave myself
and poor Jed and his terrified dog, but there was
anything but fun in it at the time of its occur-
rence. It was exasperating. I could have for-
given the injury inflicted on myself, but to bring
honest, loving Jed to an entertainment so dispro-
portioned to what I considered his deserts, was more
than I could endure.
PROM FRYING-PAN INTO FIRE. §
Jed, with a few finishing touches from my aunt's
tongue and stick, was dismissed by the back door,
while I was put to bed and locked into my room.
The next morning neither my aunt nor myself
was in a repentant mood. The sight of Jed's face,
swollen with undeserved marks of my aunt's dis-
pleasure, exasperated me with even a greater sense
of injustice than the condition of my own cuticle.
Jed, however, was as calm as a philosopher. He
was polishing a pair of boots attached to the feet
of our village lawyer. When, after his task was
finished, he remarked, " Jingo ! didn't the old lady
make us dance, though?" I told Jed that I had
determined to run away from home, cut the whole
connection, and declare myself a free and indepen-
dent person. It is due to Jed to say that he en-
deavored to dissuade me from such a course, but
he finally concluded to accompany me to Boston,
where I purposed to seek my fortune.
The same afternoon I smuggled a satchel filled
with a change of clothing to a railway station
about three miles from the village, and got it
checked for Boston, preliminary to my own depar-
ture. I had in my pocket a jack-knife and one dollar
and forty-two cents, while Jed was the possessor of
seventy-five cents. The next morning, accompa-
nied by Jed, I began my journey to Boston by line
of railway; not by steam, but afoot. For the first
ten miles I am afraid I did not have as keen a
sense of my own discomfort as I did of satisfaction
10 JEi)'S ADVENTURES.
at the retributive pain I was inflicting on my aunt
by thus absconding without notice from her pro-
tection.
Anything that breaks up the ordinary routine
of a boy's life is usually welcome, so natural is his
thirst for adventure, and his desire to penetrate
the, to him, little known paths of real life.
During the day we had bought some food in a
shoe-manufacturing town on our route ; and, as we
could not afford to pay for a night's lodging at a
hotel, we slept in a haystack in a neighboring vil-
lage, half-way between the point of our departure
and our destination. The next morning I was
foot-sore and lame, and but for Jed's good nature,
and a certain stubborn pride of my own, I believe
I should have turned back and sought the for-
giveness of my aunt.
Nightfall again came and found us about eight
miles from Boston, and nowhere to sleep. At last
we came to a decked boat lying on the shore of a
creek, and with the dog we crept, shivering with
cold, repentantly to rest in the ridged interior of
the boat.
About midnight we were awakened by a man of
unsavory garments crawling into the boat. Upon
encountering us he revealed his true character by
exclaiming, "Hallo. Are you on the tramp?"
In a few minutes the tramp was snoring, as Jed
expressed it, "like a house a-fire," and we crept
from the boat to get clear from so unwelcome a
FROM FRYING-PAN INTO FIRE. 11
guest. "We were fairly discouraged as we renewed
our line of march, and so cold that we shivered as if
with the ague. Even Mink, the dog, whined and
crept behind us with his tail dejectedly depressed.
We cautiously crossed a long railroad bridge in
the suburbs of Boston, and seeing a crate half filled
with straw, crept into it and slept the sleep of
tired boys.
We were awakened by some one roughly jolting
the crate and exclaiming, "I'll be blamed if here
isn't a whole nest of boys ! " And, as I awoke, the
good-natured laughing face of a boy some years
older than ourselves greeted us.
There is a sort of Freemasonry among youngsters,
and we soon made him understand that we were
seeking our fortunes.
Not to enter at length into this stage of our ad-
ventures, he took us into the kitchen of his father's
house and fed us royally, and listened with open-
eyed wonder while we told him our adventures.
He pronounced them "jolly," and if we were not
of his mind, we were at least willing that so gen-
erous an entertainer should hold to his opinion.
The reader can imagine the forlorn condition of
two inexperienced country boys, without money in
a city like Boston, thirty years ago.
For days the condition of Jed, myself, and the
dog, was one of chronic hunger. We were fortu-
nate if we made money enough by polishing boots
(for Jed had brought with him his boot-blacking
12 Ji:D'S ADVENTURE^.
equipments) to give us two very economical meals
a day.
It is not my purpose to depict tliis kind of life.
It is sufficient to say that we were so hungry as
to regard with favor any kind of employment
which gave us enough to eat. I believe I should
have returned to my aunt and have submitted to
what I considered her iron rule forever, but for
Jed's unfailing good humor and courage.
As it was I wrote her a letter, but before I could
get the money for a stamp to mail it, incidents
occurred which interrupted the whole course of
my vagabond life.
I had taken a great dislike to the art of boot-
blacking. Perhaps its dirt brought out the latent
results of my aunt's instructions in cleanliness, and
gave me a curious repulsion to the business which
I had previously considered quite charming.
We had tried to ship on board of several vessels
as cabin boys, but the captains usually said two
cabin boys were too many, or asked us inquisitive
questions about our mothers.
Such was our condition when, two weeks after
our arrival in Boston, while engaged in blacking
boots, a sergeant of the United States regular
artillery stopped in response to my "Black yer
boots, sir?"
While giving him a shine, with sidelong glances,
I admired his resplendent uniform of blue with
its red stripes, bright buttons and brasses.
^
Do you know any boys who wish to enlist as drummers ?
— Page 13.
FROM FRYING-PAN INTO FIRE. 13
"Boys," said the sergeant, while paying for the
sliine, " do you know any boys who wish to enlist
as di'ummers ? "
Without entering into details of the conver-
sation, we soon gave him to understand that the
joy of our hearts would be consummated if we
could be one of those glittering personages.
How it was managed, I do not know ; or who
stood our god-fathers in pla*ce of our own parents ;
but the next day at noon we were enlisted into the
service of the regular army, with the supposed
consent of our parents.
The afternoon after our enlistment we were
sent to a fort in Boston Harbor, then garrisoned
by a company of the — th United States Artillery.
Upon our arrival with other recruits we were re-
ceived at the landing by a soldier in uniform,
whom I believed to be no less than a general, but
who proved to be a corporal of the guard.
His first salutation to us was a sharp " Fall in ! "
Military language was so foreign to our ears that
neither Jed nor I understood. We innocently
looked around us to see, as Jed afterwards quaintly
remarked, " who was going to fall into what."
*' Fall in ! " again came the somewhat explosive
command.
We still stood dazed and stupid, whereupon the
corporal seized me by the shoulder and exclaiming
roughly, " Why don't you fall in? " soon made me
understand without a dictionary the meaning of the
14 JED'S ADVENTURES.
command. Upon entering the fort we were assigned
quarters with a squad in charge of a corporal named
O'Keif. Blankets were issued to us, and a bunk
pointed out for us to sleep in.
We were busy getting acquainted with our new
quarters, when we heard a great thumping of
drums, and again the order came to " Fall in ! "
We understood the order this time.
With other recruits and soldiers we were marched
to a large hall or room in the barracks. Here we
were soon seated at a pine table (extending the
whole length of the room) on which there was a
long array of bright tin plates, knives and forks, and
drinking-cups. Each plate contained a piece of
salt junk, two or three boiled potatoes, and a slice
of wheat bread. The cups each contained nearly a
quart of coffee, sweetened but without milk, while
the bread did not have its familiar accompaniment
of butter ; neither of these luxuries being issued
to the army.
The next day Jed and myself received our
clothing, and were nicely fitted by the garrison
tailor to drummers' suits, with their usual allotment
of buttons and stripes.
After donning our new suits we were for a few
hours very proud of them, but soon discovered that
their possession entailed duties with which we
were unfamiliar. As we were laughing, whistling,
and sauntering across the parade ground, with
Mink following at our heels, we encountered an
FROM FRYING-PAN INTO FIRE. 15
officer whom we carelessly passed. He looked at
us with that cast-iron-like expression common to
regular army officers, and said sharply, —
"Do you belong to tliis post? "
We replied that we had just arrived.
"Has no one taught you your duties yet? "
Whatever our reply was, he soon understood
we were raw recruits.
"Whose dog is that?"
" That's my dog," Jed replied.
" There are no dogs in the army ; they are not
allowed in the quarters," said the officer sharply.
Poor Jed's lip quivered (for he dearly loved his
dog) as he replied, "I tell you, mister, he's an
awful nice dog ; just see here," and Jed proceeded
to put Mink through a series of cunning tricks
which he had taught him. The officer's face re-
laxed into something like a smile, as he patted the
dog, and calling to a passing orderly, in a grave
undertotie said, " Take these boys to the barracks,
and send Corporal O'Keif to headquarters."
O' Keif's face fell upon receiving this order, and
he growled out, " It's something about these kids,
or an order to kill that confounded pup."
O'Keif soon returned smiling, while poor Jed,
with quivering lip, pleaded, —
" Let me keep Mink ; I'll do anything if you
will let me keep my dog."
" That's all right," said the corporal pleasantly.
"Captain Doughty says 'Never mind the dog.'
16 JED'S ADVENTURES.
You must learn your duties, though; you must
salute your superior officers properly, and keep
your face and hands clean. Now go and black
your shoes ; ' shine up ' them brasses and but-
tons."
Some of the enlisted men instructed us in bright-
ening our buttons, and in the salute to officers, by
what Jed called the "windmill business" of "one
time and three motions." It Avas some time before
we learned to recognize the difference between the
commissioned and the non-commissioned officers.
But as salutes to privates, corporals, and drum-
majors did not offend them, this did not give us
much trouble.
The Sunday morning after our arrival we were
informed that there would be an inspection, and,
under the instruction of the corporal, we were re-
quired not only to scrub our faces and hands, and
to comb our hair, but to have every article on our
persons and in our knapsacks, in an exquisite
condition of neatness. The most minute care as to
cleanliness was observed in everything. Muskets
were cleansed and brightened inside and out, with
a thoroughness almost incomprehensible to Jed
and myself ; while the barracks were scrubbed and
washed, and actually shone with cleanliness.
The sun shone on the burnished arms of the
men drawn up in bright array. The command
was given " Order arms ; " and as the inspecting
officer passed down the line, each man threw up
FROM FRYING-PAN INTO FIRE. 17
his musket for inspection. From the musket of
one man a slight smut adhered to the officer's
white glove. The man was sharply reprimanded,
and, although he had just come from guard duty,
he made no explanation.
" Why," asked I of the man afterwards, " didn't
you tell him ? "
" No back talk to officers is allowed in the army,"
was his response.
The guns on the fort, and everything else, were
critically examined. Men who appeared to us spot-
lessly clean were sternly reprimanded for some little
omission ; and I came in for a share of censure for
not having the heels of my shoes properly blacked.
The contents of each knapsack were closely exam-
ined, and while the men stood in line the quarters
were examined with the same minute thoroughness.
After inspection was over, and we were marched
to our quarters, Jed, with eyes protruding from his
head, asked one of the privates, —
" Who washes yer clothes here ? "
" Every man does his own washing in the army,"
was the crisp reply. Whereupon Jed looked at
me, and gave his opinion of the whole proceed-
ings in a low whistle, which the reader can inter-
pret for himself.
If I had run away from home and gone into the
army to avoid soap and water, rules and restraints,
I had, as Jed said, " Jumped from the frying-pan
into the fire."
CHAPTER 11.
A CHANGE OF SCENE.
A FEW months after the events narrated in the
•^-^ foregoing chapter, an order came for our
company to be ready to move at a moment's notice.
The polishing of buttons, cleaning of equipments,
rolling up of blankets and overcoats, and packing
of haversacks and knapsacks, occupied the most of
the morning hours.
My own knapsack was entirely, disproportioned
to my size. When it was strapped upon my back,
with my other equipments of drum, haversack, etc.,
I could hardly identify myself amid the multitude
of straps. Jed declared that he felt like a corn-
stalk pith with lead in the end, liable to be sud-
denly reversed and stood on his head by the weight
of his knapsack.
In the afternoon we were marched tlu-ough the
lower streets of Boston to the depot, and after two
hours' ride were embarked on a steamer for New
York. It was at this time that I discovered, as one
of the peculiarities of army life, that the command-
ing officer does not consider it worth while, either
on the march or from day to day, to communicate
his intentions either to non-commissioned officers,
privates, or even to drummers.
18
A CHANGE OF SCENE, 19
We had no more conception of where we were
going than the spectators who idly thronged the
streets. The next morning we arrived in New
York, and viewed with boyish curiosity its crowded,
busy streets, and listened to its Babel-like confusion
of street-calls. The haste of its life so impressed
Jed that he said, '^ I haven't seen a feller in this
town who acts as if he had time to breathe or have
his boots shined." After being quartered for a day
or so at Governor's Island, we were embarked on
another steamer, en route we knew not where.
The weather was pleasant, and the air grew more
and more mild as the steamer, with its freight of
passengers, throbbed its way along the coast, and
finally landed our party of recruits amid the sands
of old Point Comfort, at Fort Monroe. This fort-
ress, with its great guns and gray granite walls,
impressed us with wonder. For a few days all our
spare time, when not under the rigorous drill to
which we were presently subjected, was spent in
investigating our surroundings.
When we left Boston snow was on the ground,
and the weather was cold ; while here the grass was
green beneath our feet, and the buds were unrolling
into leaves for the dress-parade of spring. The
widespreading bay of the Chesapeake, with Nor-
folk dimly seen in the distance, and all our sur-
roundings, had that charm of novelty so enchanting
to boys.
One of the prominent characters of the fort at
4-
20 JED'S ADVENTURES.
this time was Sergeant Gruff. He was a short,
red-faced son of Germany, who had grown gray in
the service. Years before, it was said, he had en-
listed as a musician, and had been in the Mexican
war. His complexion and face were as rough as
his manners, voice, and temper. In the estimation
of the garrison, as well as in the circumference
described by his belt, he was a great man.
So thoroughly was he imbued with military
methods, that Jed declared that he ate in one time
and three motions (as if practising a sort of manual
of arms), and saluted himself with his knife and
fork after eating. He was a martinet, and insisted
upon the letter, as weU as the spirit, of all military
performances. In justice to this old veteran, it
must be said that he commanded the respect of the
officers of the garrison, and was a man of education
and an excellent soldier.
Jed had made a belt and equipments for Mink,
and taught him to hold a miniature musket while
" sitting up." A week or so after our arrival Jed
was exercising his dog in his favorite tricks to an ad-
miring audience of soldiers. Even a lieutenant had
condescended to become an amused spectator of
the performance.
Up to this time there had been no objection made
to Mink's presence in the quarters, but, as luck
would have it, some of the soldiers suggested a
resemblance between Mink and Sergeant Gruff, and
the conceit was so amusing that they addressed the
A CHANGE OF SCENE. 21
dog by the old sergeant's name. The sergeant, in
passing, overheard the comparison, and angrily
roared out his displeasure, dispersed the crowd, and
ordered poor Mink from the garrison quarters.
Jed begged and pleaded, but it wJ? useless ; the
sergeant Avas inexorable. For a time Mink skulked
outside the fort, repulsed by guard and garrison.
Easy-going Jed was much disgusted with army
life, — a sentiment which was at that time strongly
indorsed by my own feelings.
A soldier's life may be enchanting when seen in
occasional glimpses on dress-parade or review, but
often is the reverse when it becomes a part of one's
daily life.
There is in all garrisons and regiments a wink-
ing at the employment of soldiers as menials, for
wliich there is no warrant in army regulations. A
private soldier, perhaps, to gain a few extra dollars
each month, acts as a barber. A sergeant or cor-
poral often is mean enough to exact tliis service
from a private without pay. There is no reason
why the subordinate should perform these duties
other than to win the favor of his immediate supe-
rior, that he may thereby escape some more real
duty.
Jed and I at times attempted to earn a little
extra money by blacking the shoes of the soldiers,
whereupon Corporal O'Keif, of our squad, began to
exact this service from us as his due, without pay-
ing for it. I had never fancied blacking shoes since
22 JED'S ADVENTURES.
my Boston experience in that line, and only on rare
occasions blacked any one's shoes but my own. I
had just come from duty at the guard quarters one
morning when Corporal O'Keif, as imperiously as
a king of Pri#sia, ordered me to clean and black a
pair of muddy shoes for him. I refused. The cor-
poral had been drinking, and was in unusually bad
temper that morning, whether because a bottle of
old rye had given out, or because of his supreme
pleasure, I do not know.
" What in blazes did you come into the army for ?
to be a gentleman ? " he angrily roared.
" Not to black an Irish blackguard's boots," was
my equall}^ angry reply.
The corporal attempted to chastise me, but I was
a better runner than he, and, though pursued furi-
ously, I kept far enough in advance to tantalize and
lead him on. The race drew together quite an
audience, who applauded me and gibed at the cor-
poral. The corporal was almost blind with anger
and whiskey, when Jed suddenly stepped out in
front of him with the corporal's shoes, well blacked,
in his hand. Before Corporal O'Keif could halt he
had tumbled on to Jed, and began to beat him.
When Jed at last escaped from the corporal's
embrace, with well-assumed humility he said, ''I
don't see what you want to run after me and beat
me for. I ain't done nothin' but shine your shoes."
The corporal could hardly believe his senses when
Jed held his well-blacked shoes toward him.
A CHANGE OF SCENE. 23
" And sure are yez the bye I have been chasing? "
said he.
" Yes, and pounding too, corporal," said Jed.
" Be jimminy ! how did yez get toime to black
them shoes when I was chasing yez ? "
"Dick likes to run, and he was running some
too, so as to give me time," was Jed's rather lame
explanation, but which I have no doubt would have
satisfied the corporal, but for the jeers and roars of
laughter from the spectators.
These caused the Irish corporal to walk away
with his shoes, meditatively using in an undertone
misplaced theological words.
I had seen by this time enough of soldier's life
in garrison to understand that it was not enough
for one simply to do his duty to obtain favor. He
must make as many friends as possible.
Shortly after the scene narrated, while Jed and I
were on pass at the village of Hampton, we made
a friend of Sergeant Gruff.
The worst vice of the soldier is drunkenness, and
the sergeant had either been unfortunate in his
selection of liquors, or had forgotten to keep score
with liis usual circumspection, and was drunk. His
person, ordinarily the model of neatness, was soiled,
his garments muddy, and generally the old soldier
was in poor plight for dress-parade, or even ordinary
duty.
No one knew tliis better than the old veteran
himself. He said " his het vas sober, if his legs ver
24 JED'S ADVENTURES,
trunk." Jed was full of compassion for the old
sergeant, and remarked that he reminded him so
much of his own dad as to almost make him cry.
"See here, sergeant," said Jed, "you can't get
into port without a pilot, and Dick and I will help
you."
The sergeant looked unsteadily at us for a mo-
ment, and then, with the ejaculation, " Go aheat,
poys," surrendered himself to our direction.
We helped him into a neighboring house, cleaned
his clothes, and I pumped water on his head while
Jed rubbed it hard and wiped it dry. Under
this process (to which he submitted with surprising
docility) he gradually straightened up, saying,
" Smart poys, smart poys. Make shenerals pefore
you die."
We finally succeeded in getting him to his quar-
ters without any one suspecting his condition, and
the old sergeant thenceforward became our firm
friend. Mink was admitted to the garrison, and
was sometimes to be seen asleep on the sergeant's
lap.
Sergeant Gruff was a man of superior education,
having, it was said, been educated in one of the
great German universities for the priesthood. He
often invited Jed and myself into his quarters, and
instructed us in the higher duties of a soldier, gave
us lessons in bayonet drill, sword exercise, and
directed us in the study of the infantry and artil-
lery text-book. He also advised us in the selection
A CHANGE Of scene. 25
of books to read from the well-stocked garrison
library. He had the true spirit of a teacher, for he
made us desire to know more than he taught us.
It was his judicious instruction and intelligent ob-
servations that gave me, for the first time, a real
love for military life, and which in time made both
Jed and myself good subordinates, imbued with
that spirit of discipline which alone can make one
fit for higher positions. For one must learn to
obey before they can command; or, as Sergeant
Gruff said, " Know how to do a ting right pefore
you try to make some vone else do it right."
Another of the veteran's maxims was, " Keeps
your temper alvays. If you gets mat, get mat mit
your equal, not mit your superior officer. That
will be so vorse for you as dunder." This was good
advice, which, if I had taken, would have saved me
much trouble, as the sequel will show.
CHAPTER III.
IN THE GUAHD-HOUSE.
T HAD been on guard duty one day when O'Keif
-'- was corporal of the guard. This Irish "non
com " had not forgiven me for refusing to polish
his shoes, or for making him ridiculous by playing
tricks on him, as he insisted on calling the per-
formance narrated in a former chapter.
Since that time he had shown his resentment in
various ways, and never ceased to find fault with me
when I was on duty under him. That morning,
after being reUeved from guard duty, the corporal
told me I did not know how to drum, and had not
beaten the reveille correctly. In this the corporal
had more conceit than knowledge ; and in any case,
it was not his duty to instruct me, or mine to receive
his instruction in drumming. When, therefore, he
attempted to take the drum-sticks from my hands,
I resisted. In the squabble which followed, while
I was backing away from him, his foot tripped, and
at the same time I " fended off " with the drum,
through which his head crashed (with a little of
my assistance), leaving the drum resting on his
shoulders like some patent substitute for his own
head. Had the affair ended here it would have been
20
I "fended off" with the drum, through which his head
crashed. — Page 26.
IN THE GUARD-HOUSE. 27
fortunate for me ; but Mink, fancying that I was
being abused, had been snapping at O'Keif s heels
and had noAV seized the broadest part of liis trousers.
The fun of the situation was too much for me, and
bestriding the corporal's shoulders, I began beating
the sick call on the drum. This, with the barking
of Mink, and the howls of anger from O'Keif, di-ew
together a crowd to witness the humorous tableau.
Even the officers came to the scene, and among
them was the commandant.
O'Keif had now got to his feet, and was pulling
the drum from his head, and filling the air with
exclamations, when the commandant cried out, —
" Here, here ! what does this mean ? "
'' This blackguard of a bye has been beating me
head with the drum, and is the devil with his
thricks," was the confused response. The com-
mandant walked away without comment, but later
in the day I was sent to the guard-quarters under
arrest.
My offence from a military standpoint was a
serious one, which few who are not conversant with
military exactions will understand. I was guilty
not only of insubordination, but of striking my
military superior. I cannot say, however, that I
took a very serious view of the affair.
Among the prisoners at the guard-house was
the fifer, O'Meara. He was about forty-five years
of age and had been in the service twenty years.
He was an intelligent man, but was intemperate,
28 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and the offence for which he was in durance was
getting drunk and overstaying his pass.
"Yez in a scrape, and no mistake, youngster,"
said he.
" Why ? " asked I, not having a proper sense of
my offence.
" Why now, me bye, don't you see, a court-mar-
tial is convened to convict, and considers the cul-
prit guilty until he's proved to be innocent. The
only chance is that they may drop ye like a hot
potato without a trial."
" How do you mean ? " said I.
" Why, after keeping yez here a while, they may
put yez on duty again without a word, and yez'd
be a lucky bye if they do."
" What shall I do ? " I inquired.
" Say nothing, but saw wood," was the sage ad-
vice of the fifer, drawn doubtless from long ex-
perience.
I soon found that being a prisoner under guard
meant doing the servile work of the garrison, such
as cleaning rusty muskets, sweeping the parade
ground, and washing out the officers' quarters.
In the eyes of the soldiers whom I met, there
did not appear to be any particular disgrace attached
to being in the guard-house. I spread my blanket
on the sloping shelf-like boards which formed its
sleeping accommodations, and soon felt as much
at home there as anywhere.
The ''don't know" and "don't care" qualities
IN THE GUARD-HOUSE. 29
of youngsters, which spring from ignorance and in-
experience, often stand them in as good stead as
the philosophy of their eklers. To them, trouble
in prospective exists simply in name. Youth lives
in the present, and borrows no trouble from the
future. This is well, for trouble comes soon enough
in reality without borrowing it by anticipation.
Another of the prisoners at this time was a
young man named Walker who had joined the
army some months before as a recruit. His of-
fence had been in trying to force the guard. He
had been intercepted while attempting to " run the
guard," had wrested a musket from one of them,
and had nearly effected his escape when he was
overpowered. He had an intelligent but imperious
face, was educated, and his person as well as man-
ners and conversation showed intelligence and re-
finement. He was of magnificent physique, tall,
straight, and graceful. Of his parentage, home,
and real name we knew nothing, and could learn
notliing except that Walker was an assumed name.
He had learned the drill as if by intuition, while
his military bearing made him a prominent figure
in the ranks on the parade ground. It was sur-
mised that he had run away from school or college.
Just before he was to have been summoned before
the court-martial, he was visited by a well-known
gentleman of the vicinity, who held a private con-
versation with him, and later was closeted with the
commanding officer. A few evenings after this
30 • JED'S ADVENTURES.
while out under guard, it was said that Walker
wrested a musket from the guard and escaped.
He was never heard from in the garrison again.
The wise ones among the garrison soldiers shook
their heads sagely, as if there were more in the
affair than appeared on the surface. It AA^as not
until the AVar of the Rebellion was in progress that
I saw him again, and the matter was in part made
clear.
During my imprisonment I was constantly
visited by Jed and his dog. It was remarked
that my guard-house life wore on Jed worse
than on me. Sergeant Gruff one morning came
to the guard-quarters, and, after some informal talk
with the officer of the day, said, " Veil, youngster,
you've prought your pigs to a fine market," and
talked to me A\dth great severity about my military
misdeeds. At his request I gave him a full, and,
in the main, correct account of the affair from my
own standpoint. It seems that my version Avas
fully sustained by others, to whom I referred the
old sergeant.
The court-martial was convened, and the trials
began. I had thought it possible that the influence
of Sergeant Gruff might stand me in good stead,
but Avas not prepared for what foUoAved, Avhen, one
morning I Avas released, and unceremoniously placed
on duty.
The experience of nearly a month in the guard-
house had a salutary effect upon me. It made me
IN THE GUARD-HOUSE. 81
see the folly of giving way to temper, or of yielding
to my propensity for mischievous fun. Though
with maturer years I have never lost my sense of
humor, I have managed to hold it subject to the
rules of common sense, sufficiently at least to re-
strain me from beating the sick call on my superior's
head.
Sergeant Gruff having been instrumental in ob-
taining my release, took me under his especial
protection. Jed liad already been installed in the
sergeant's affections. When asked why he exerted
himself in my behalf, he is said to have replied,
" Zat poy Jed, he vas so pale and goot for notting
at all, until dat youngster vas let out of the guard-
house."
Jed had now lost the look of premature age no-
ticeable on his face when we first knew him. Ser-
geant Gruff visited boon companions and the lager-
beer kegs less than formerly, as if he had taken a
new interest in life with the concern he had for
his ''poys." It was my delight to read aloud to
the old sergeant until his pipe dropped from his
mouth, and he fell asleep in his garrison chair.
On such occasions the dog would noiselessly get
down from his knees, and Jed would give him a
little shake and help him to bed. Sometimes the
sergeant would sleepily say, " Such a poy as dot
Jed never vas pefore."
The lives of those around us were a standing
commentary on the evils of drunkenness ; and, hap-
32 JED'S ADVENTURES.
pily for both Jed and myself, we profited by their
example, and shunned strong drink. The advice
of Sergeant Gruff was also in favor of sobriety.
" Poys, I should have pen a sheneral if I hat not
pen such a trunkard," was an often repeated saying
of his. Again he would say, " Trink makes a hog
of a man." I have since believed that it is the
association of boys with genteel drinkers that makes
drunkards of them, rather than companionship with
the vice in its more beastly forms.
CHAPTER IV.
CHARLESTON ON THE EVE OF THE REBELLION.
""^TEARLY four years had elapsed since the
-^^ scene of our last chapter. We were now
almost men. Jed was eighteen years old, tall,
straight, and with a fine physique and manly bear-
ing. Study under Sergeant Gruff had given a
thoughtful cast to his face; while the wholesome
diet and methodical habits of military life had
formed both his body and mind in a vigorous
mould. At this time I was slight in form, yet in
robust health.
As a new love will sometimes kill out an old
one, so the veteran had in part been reformed from
drink in the new direction given to his life by his
love for his " two poys."
In the summer of 1860, we formed a part of the
garrison of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island,
at the entrance of Charleston Harbor. This
island is three miles long and not over a quarter
of a mile broad, and is separated from the main-
land by a scarcely perceptible creek which oozes
through a marsh and is hidden by beds of reeds.
The island is composed of little else than sea sand,
overgrown with masses of sweet myrtle, and re-
33
84 JED'S AtoVJENTUnns.
lieved by a stunted growth of bristly palmetto, ris-
ing above its margin of hard white beach.
Fort Moultrie was situated at the eastern ex-
tremity of this sandy island.
Near the Fort there were a summer hotel and a
collection of frame buildings, forming a little vil-
lage known as Moultrieville. The garrison con-
sisted of two companies of United States Artillery,
then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John L.
Gardner.
In my frequent visits to Charleston I had a good
opportunity to observe the prevalent feeling in
that city during the excitement preceding the
election of Mr. Lincoln.
At this time the bitterness then existing against
the North and Northern men can scarcely be under-
stood.
The great topic of conversation on every side
was politics, and of what Carolina proposed to do
in the event of the election of the " abolition " can-
didate, as they called Mr. Lincoln.
" Abolitionists," " black Republicans," " nigger
lovers," were epithets applied indiscriminately to
Northern men.
One of the great men of Charleston at this time
was Robert Barnwell Rhett, of whom I once heard
some one seriously affirm that if Rhett's full appel-
lation were abridged by the omission of a single
syllable or letter, he would make it an affair of
honor, and insist upon a personal meeting with the
one who thus curtailed it.
EVE OF THE REBELLION: 35
My humble position did not admit of the acquaint-
ance of such gentlemen, and I speak only from
hearsay.
In the groceries, markets, and lounging rooms,
during August, threats of secession, in case Mr.
Lincoln was elected, were as common as oaths.
After the election was made, the people were wild
with excitement, and the military situation at Fort
Moultrie became serious. The entire garrison con-
sisted of but sixty-three enlisted men, with thir-
teen musicians. The walls of Fort ^loultrie were
not over twelve feet high, while its masonry was
in such a cracked and crumbling condition that I
had often climbed it.
On the shore side of the fort, looking toward
Fort Sumter, there was a large sand-bank almost
on a level with its walls. jNlinor sand-hills in the
vicinity would have sheltered sharpshooters, or have
proved excellent positions for artillery in an attack
on the fort.
One morning after Mr. Lincoln's election. Cor-
poral O'Keif, with a piece of chalk and a board,
was explaining the military situation and its
needs.
"You see, byes," said he, "we need some of them
sticks tied together they call ' fascines,' and some
of them baskets without a bottom they call 'ga-
bions.' The difficulty is, we've got nothing to
make 'em of but palmetto, and they'd tear the hands
off a steam-engine."
36 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Sergeant Gruff, who had been a sneering listener
to these exphmations, kicked away the board on
which O'Keif was demonstrating the military prob-
lem, saying, " Dunder, man ! vat you dinks ? Cows
can vrun right over dese walls. Vat we want is to
find out how ve gets out of dis trap, and not how to
stays here."
The correctness of the bluff sergeant's views was
afterward demonstrated.
The sentiment of Charleston, and even Moultrie-
ville, meanwhile, became each day more and more
defiant. " Carolina don't want soldiers in old
Moultrie, sah. If 'the Lincoln government don't
clar them out, we do it for them, sah."
I heard a person in Charleston holding forth one
day on what was evidently his favorite subject ;
namely, the cowardice of the Yankees.
" The Yankees won't fight. You can't kick them
into a fight. When the South goes out of the Union,
the North will beg like dogs to come with us, sah.
Like dogs, sah."
The re-opening of the slave-trade, as one of the
accompaniments of secession, was also much dis-
cussed. I heard one man affirm that if Carolina
seceded, the slave-trade would be re-opened, and
then poor whites could buy negroes " dirt cheap."
" At ten dollars apiece, sah. Every white man can
be a gentleman, sah."
It was not believed at that time that the govern-
ment at Washington would re-enforce Moultrie.
EVE OF THE REBELLtOJV. S7
The opinion was freely expressed that the men of
the garrison were fools to stay in the fort and resist
an attack. Most of the officers had family connec-
tions in the South, and were therefore affected to a
great degree by the social atmosphere of Charles-
ton. It was natural that they should not relish
the thought of fighting against people with whom
they had hitherto associated on most amiable and
friendly terms.
After Major Anderson's arrival, which was about
the 24th of September, it was generally understood
among us that, though he was Southern in his
sympathies, he would allow no one to coax or coerce
him into an attitude dishonorable to our govern-
ment. Like most good soldiers, however, he pre-
ferred peace to war.
It was some time in September, also, that our
little garrison w^as excited by the arrival of Captain
John G. Foster as engineer, with Lieutenants
Snyder and Mead as assistants,- to repair and
strengthen Fort Moultrie.
While these repairs were going on, and the sand
heaps were being removed from around its walls,
we heard loud threats, on every side, of an attack
on the fort.
A party which was sent in boats to obtain ammu-
nition at the Arsenal on the south side, found, upon
their arrival, a mob of Charleston people in posses-
sion, and returned without accomplishing their ob-
ject. When Sergeant Gruff was interrogated as to
38 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Major Anderson's probable designs he replied, " I
pelieve the major means to fight."
On the 11th of September, it will be remembered,
a bill was passed by the South Carolina Legislature
to arm the militia, and on the 20th, South Carolina
passed the ordinance of secession ; or, as I heard a
boastful citizen declare, " Carolina became a free
and independent nation." The same citizen de-
clared in my hearing, " If you all don't want to be
killed, you'd better get out of hyer." Another per-
son expressed pleasure that the fort was being re-
paired, as it '^ saved South Carolina the expense of
doing it."
Judge Petigru, of South Carolina, paid our offi-
cers a visit about this time. He was an exception
to the great mass of South Carolina people in being
a pronounced Union man. He is said to have re-
plied to the question of what he thought of secession
by saying, '' South Carolina, sir, is not big enough
for a nation, and is too big for an insane asylum."
It was rather tryino^ to human nature to be con-
stantly abused, as every one representing the Fed-
eral Government was at this time, by the people
around us. The citizens of Charleston were, how-
ever, generally kind to us as individuals, though
they were abusive to us as a class. In my associa-
tion with Southern men and women I have often
found this to be the case.
The worst abuse of the Lincoln party an^ of
Northern men that I heard at this time was from
EVE OP nm RE BELLI ON. S()
the citizen workmen of Charleston and the masons
from Baltimore engaged on the repairs of Moultrie.
While bargaining for some pies with an old negro
at Moultrie one day, I casually mentioned that I
was a Yankee. After glancing around him he said,
while his attention was apparently riveted on a pie,
" My old massa say Linkum gwine to set all the
colored men free."
Under the superintendence of Captain Foster the
sand was dug away from the shore side of Fort
Moultrie, and the ditches and masonry repaired.
Had a resolute attack been made while the repairs
were going on, it is safe to say there could have
been but little resistance made. The guns had
been dismounted, but by the middle of November
they were again in position, and thenceforth the
garrison was drilled in artillery practice. Shell or
torpedoes were arranged around the fort in such a
manner as to explode when a board connected with
them was trodden upon.
At our target practice and torpedo experiments
there was commonly a crowd of talkative, observ-
ant citizens. They were apparently much im-
pressed with the destructiveness of our artillery,
as well as by the possibilities of the torpedoes.
I overheard one of them remark that '' the tor-
pedoes around that fort would blow up an army."
Afterwards, however, when similar explosives were
encountered by the Union army at Yorktown, they
did not prove to be so terrible.
40 JED'S AbVENWRns.
Among those who occasionally visited the fort
was Captain Northrup, an officer in the United
States Army, on sick leave and full pay, who subse-
quently became Commissary-General of the Confed-
eracy. He was afterward accused of speculating
on the rations of both Union prisoners of war and
of Confederate soldiers.
Our garrison was too small for efficient guard
duty, there being only five or six men, for one
hour each, stationed on guard as a precaution
against a surprise.
At last an unexpected climax came. Just after
dress-parade, on the evening of the 26th of Decem-
ber, before either officers or men had had their
supper, the order came, " Get ready to move at a
moment's notice."
Threats of an attack on Fort Moultrie had fur-
nished the commander with a plausible pretext for
the removal of the garrison families to some dilapi-
dated government buildings at Fort Johnson, on
the west side of the harbor. The schooners, char-
tered ostensibly for carrying the families, were also
secretly loaded with stores, with instructions to
the quartermaster to land the provisions at Fort
Sumter.
In the twilight we silently marched out of the
Fort and embarked on board of boats which for
this purpose had been concealed behind an old sea
wall. One of our officers, with five men, was left
behind to man the guns, with orders to sink the
EVE OF THE REBELLION. 41
Charleston guard-boats, which at this time were
patrolling the harbor, if they fired upon us.
In crossing the channel we were ordered to take
off our coats and throAV them over the muskets.
It may have been OAving to this that although
one of the little steamers patrolling the harbor
came very near our boats they did not notice the
character of its passengers. They doubtless sup-
posed us to be a party of workmen from Fort
Sumter, returning to that fort.
Upon the landing of the first boat the actual
laborers had rushed out of the fort to oppose the
landing of troops, but without much opposition
(beyond the clamor of tongues) our men took pos-
session. That night we ate our supper in Fort
Sumter, and the next morning there was great ex-
citement in Charleston over the intelligence that
Fort Sumter had, in some mysterious way, been
garrisoned.
CHAPTER V.
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES.
ri ^HE removal of the garrison from Moultrie to
-^ Sumter had been conducted with so much
secrecy that even the people of INIoultrieville were
not aware of the evacuation until late the following
forenoon.
Captain Foster, of the Engineers, visited the
Fort on that morning with a detachment for guard,
and finding it deserted, after removing stores and
war munitions, set fire to the gun carriages and
such stores as could not be removed.
Our officers and men were elated at having stolen
so successful a march upon those who thought they
were to have everything their own way.
It is even said that the Charleston people were
angry at our want of politeness in making so im-
portant a move without consulting them. Illustra-
tive of this, that very afternoon two officers from
town in full uniform w^aited upon Major Anderson,
and politely but sternly requested him to return
with his command to Fort Moultrie. The insur-
gents are said to have considered it an additional
affront and grievance that our commander did not
comply with this modest request.
42
LI J
*fe§
^ >> ,>J ^ y^\,
ilittiiiir
"Eaisini? the fla"- at Sumter." — Pajje 45.
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 43
Early in the morning after our arrival, Jed and
I went over the fort to view our new quarters.
It was what Jed called a two-story fort ; that is,
arranged for an upper and loAver tier of guns.
It was constructed of brick and stone, and was
five-sided or pentagonal in form, but was as yet in
an unfinished condition. Sergeant Gruff pointed
out to us that the fort had no flanking defences,
and was so incomplete that it would require weeks
of labor to put it in a proper defensive condition.
The ujDper tier of embrasures or openings for
guns, were simply irregular holes, roughly boarded
up, while on the gate side only a few guns were as
yet mounted. The interior of the fort was ob-
structed with the rubbish of masonry, and had no
fii-e-proof quarters for officers or men, unless the
chambers in the ramparts or casemates might be so
considered.
Fort Sumter stands mid^vay at the mouth of
Charleston Harbor ; while Castle Pinckney is on the
right of and near the city, at the mouth of the
Cooper River.
Jed and I, while on the ramparts facing Charles-
ton, could hear the sound of church bells in the
city, a little over three miles distant, and see its
spires and houses distinctly. While the men of
the garrison were on the ramparts, one of the little
steamers patrolling the bay came near the fort.
There was evidently great excitement on board at
eight of pur crowded ramparts,
44 JED'S ADVENTURES.
This steamer conveyed to Charleston, it is said,
the first intelligence that the fort had been myste-
riously garrisoned during the night.
On our right was Fort iMoultrie, about a mile
away ; Fort Johnson on our left, a little over the
same distance ; while Cumming's Point was less
than a mile on our left rear.
It was from tliis last-named fort, under easy
reach of our guns, that formidable batteries cov-
ered with railroad iron were erected, and from
which the fii'st gun was afterwards fired upon
Sumter.
At all these points, with the exception of Charles-
ton, the insurgents began erecting, without inter-
ference from us, the batteries which afterwards
opened their encircling fire upon Sumter.
For days and weeks succeeding our arrival,
steamers and vessels laden with material for the
construction of these works passed under the very
muzzles of our guns, and old hulks were being sunk
in the ship channel to obstruct navigation.
In view of the forbearance which refrained from
disturbing these treasonable preparations, it is not
to be wondered at that a rebel officer (Captain G.
V. Fox, formerly of tlie United States Navy) inti-
mated that he would like permission of the oificers
at Sumter to anchor his iron-clad floating battery
near the main gate.
This illustrates how little the United States
Government did to bring on the conflict which
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 45
followed. It has been asserted, and I believe it to
be true, that at this time a single ship of war
could have sailed up Charleston Harbor to its
wharves and have nipped the rebellion in the bud.
At noon on the first day of our occupation, an
impressive service took place. The men were
formed in the fort under arms ; and after a prayer
by the chaplain, and while the band played, they
presented arms as the stars and stripes were raised
over the fort.
The work of putting the fort in a condition of
defence began at once. Guns were mounted, sand
bags filled and piled up, and the rubbish cleared
away. A mine was constructed at the end of the
wharf ; while the walls, which at that point were
quite thin, were strengthened by a new wall of
masonry, and onl}^ an entrance large enough for a
single man left. This entrance was commanded by
a howitzer loaded with canister. The ragged em-
brasures were also properly finished.
On the same day that we raised the National
flag over Sumter, the Charleston people raised
the flag of revolt over Castle Pinckney. Men of
the detachment who had accompanied Captain
Foster to Moultrie, on returning, saw the insur-
gents going over to this fort in their boats.
The castle had been garrisoned by Ordnance Ser-
geant Skillen. That his daughter was worthy to
be a soldier's daughter, is shown by her subsequent
conduct. When the Charleston insurgents took
46 JED'S ADVENTURES.
possession it is said they found her crying. One
of the gallant invaders, thinking to comfort her
said, " My dear young lady, no one will hurt you ;
don't cry."
With flashing eyes, Miss Kate replied, " I am not
crying because I am afraid, but because that miser-
able rag [pointing to the palmetto flag] is wheie the
stars and stripes belong. If I had a dozen women
here with brooms I'd drive you out of the fort."
Her father was said to have made several inef-
fectual applications for more men and munitions,
in order that he might turn the guns of Fort Pinck-
ney upon Charleston.
The spirit of both officers and men at this crisis
was right, but was subordinated to the desire of
placing the insurgents in the wrong.
The Charleston people seized Castle Pinckney
and Fort Moultrie, and also the United States rev-
enue cutter in the harbor, without the formality of
even a declaration of war. This "last act was
clearly one of piracy.
It was exasperating to see this revenue vessel
of the United States thereafter anchored near
Sumter, overhauling our mails, and everything
which came to us.
Sergeant Gruff, who despised civilians, said it
showed what fools politics made of men. '' Sol-
diers," said he, '' should not have anything to do
mit politics, poys ; it makes fools mit eferybody
dot mixes mit it,"
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 47
While we do not indorse the okl sergeant's
sweeping axiom, yet had it been afterwards gen-
erally adopted by officers in high command, it
would have saved them from many humiliations.
To understand our situation more clearly, it is
needful to say that the laborers found here upon
our arrival, had mostly been detained to work on
the fort, and that the wives and children of the
soldiers now joined the garrison at Sumter. These
additional mouths used up our rations very fast.
In a few weeks we were out of sugar, and had no
candles by which to light our quarters. In a little
lighthouse inside the fort, a small quantity of oil
had been found which was used for this purpose.
The garrison was also out of soap for AMishing
clothes, and fuel for heating the quarters, although
there was enough for cooking the food.
Sometimes we were allowed to purchase supplies
in Charleston, and again were refused the privilege.
The market-men at times refused to sell us food,
and had, as Jed said, '' spasms, both in their prices
and their disposition to sell."
The wives of Captains Doubleday and Seymour
both came to the fort soon after our occupation,
but for some reason returned to Charleston. When
they endeavored to obtain board in that city it is
said they were referred to Mr. Rhett, editor of the
Mercury^ for permission to do so.
The sentiment against Federal officers and their
wives was so strong that these ladies were finally
48 JED'S ADVENTURES,
sent North; and in February the wives and chil-
dren of the soldiers were also sent, in the steamer
Marion^ to Fort Hamilton in New York Harbor.
The days dragged monotonously along, relieved
by occasional visits of outsiders, who roamed at
will over the fort. Among our visitors was a Major
Anderson, the owner of the Tredegar Iron Works
at Richmond, who came to Charleston to bring
heavy guns and munitions of war to the insur-
gents.
A photographer also came to photograph the
officers and men of the garrison. At another time
Mr. Lamon, said to have been a former law-partner
of Mr. Lincoln, came with Colonel Duryea of
Charleston.
One morning in February (the 9th, I tliink it
was), Jed and myself, who slept together, were
awakened and ordered to beat the long roll, calling
the men to their positions at the guns. We heard
heavy firing from several directions, and when at
liberty saAv, from one of the embrasures of the fort,
a ship with the stars and stripes at her fore peak in
the main ship channel, off Morris Island.
The batteries, both at Camming's Point and at
Fort Moultrie, were firing upon her. She had
quickly passed from under the range of the guns
at Cumming's Point, but, receiving no sign from
Sumter, finally turned and sailed doAvn the chan-
nel again, and out into the ocean. It was the Star
of the West^ with men and supplies for Sumter,
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 49
The forbearance of our military representatives at
this time is again shown in the fact that all around
us, in plain sight, were to be seen gangs of workmen
building batteries and mounting guns, before which
our defences were to prove as impotent as if built
of cardboard.
In March, after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln
and the establishment of the Confederacy, when a
practice shot from one of the enemy's guns at Cum-
ming's Point struck near our wharf, we expected the
fight to begin. Corporal O'Keif growled because
the men were not called to their guns to return
this fire, as by this time severe guard duty, short
rations, and anger at many vexatious humilia-
tions, made the men anxious to begin the fight
before they became weaker and the insurgents
stronger.
By the 1st of April our guns were in position,
and many of the workmen were shortly afterwards
sent to Charleston. Our fuel, which had for some
time consisted of the wooden sheds of the fort, had
been entirely consumed, while for rations we had
only pork and water.
A schooner which attempted to enter Charleston
Harbor on the 3d, with the stars and stripes flying
at her mast-head, was fired upon by the Confede-
rates, and the men were ordered again to the guns,
but did not return the fire.
On the 10th some houses opposite us at Moul-
trieville were torn down, disclosing a formidable
50 JED'S ADVENTURES.
battery, coniinanding our heaviest guns. The same
afternoon Major Anderson received a demand for
the surrender of Fort Sumter ; and preparations on
ever}^ side pointed to the speedy opening of a con-
flict wliich should roll back the curtain of peace,
disclosino' a terrible civil war.
On the night of Thursday, the 10th of April, I
was drummer of the guard. During the day I had
asked Sergeant Gruff if he thought we should really
have a fight. '' Fight, poy I Wliy, vat they digs
all dese earthworks round us for? They mean
pizness, poy, pizness." And then the old sergeant
added, with a groan, '^ Politics, politics, politics," as
if this word was a key to the madness and passion
of the hour, and the conflict which was about to
burst upon us.
" Byes," said Corporal OTveif at guard-quarters,
" the ribels have already fired on the American flag,
and bedad I it seemed to like the sinsation."
The reseiwe of the guard, about four o'clock next
morning, was awakened by a shot from the enemy.
It was their signal fi'un from Fort Johnson for the
opening of the battle. Before I could reach the
ramparts a shot from the battery at Cumming's
Point crashed through the walls on the side nearest
the gate of Sumter. When I reached the parapet,
the flash of guns all around us, and the roar of artil-
lery, together with crasliing shot on our crumbling
walls, showed that the conflict had begun.
Several otflcers and men were already on the
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 51
parapets. One of them said jestingly, "You see,
they have begun their entertainment,"
" Those who open the ball don't always dance
with the last set, though," said an Irish private
near me.
The men were ordered from the parapet by the
officers for fear of casualties, and sent to their quar-
ters.
" Get all the sleep you can, you'll need it," said
one of them. But there was no longer any sleep
for the garrison at Sumter.
" Just as if any one could sleep w^ith the brick
tumbling down like that," growled 0"Keif, as a
shot struck the upper walls, and flakes of masonry
fell around us.
The shell from the mortar batteries of the enemy,
sailing through the air, came down vertically inside
the walls, and, exploding, shook the fort with the
concussion. For an hour the shell fell into Sumter,
and the shot went crashing through its walls w^ith-
out a reply from the garrison. We had no means
of lighting the fort, and had to wait for daylight.
When at last it was broad day, and the garrison
had eaten a meagre meal of pork and water, the
men were ordered to the guns. The interval seemed
a day, instead of an hour.
" The fellers on t'other side save us the trouble
of beating a very long roll," said Jed jestingly, as
we began to rattle off the call to summon the gar-
rison.
52 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Tlie first detachment, under Captain Abner
Doubleday, from tlie southeast side of the fort,
began firing on tlie battery at Cumming's Point.
Tlie shot struck its slanting, iron-clad roof, and
rebounded like rubber balls when thrown on top of
a shed. Nineteen batteries of the enemy were now
throwing shot and shell into Sumter.
In view of the small number of men in the gar-
rison, the major commanding did not think it pru-
dent to man the upper tier of guns. Those in the
upper tier, however, were our heaviest metal, best
commanded the guns of the enemy, and could have
been brought to bear on the foe where those of the
kiwer tier could not. These guns were fired only
once during the tight, and then without orders, by
an Irish sergeant, who could not resist the tempta-
tion to lire guns loaded and pointed at an enemy.
Our men found some hinderances. There were
no breach sights to the guns, but this was remedied
by notched sticks in phice of them.
Under the heavy cannonade the upper walls were
soon in ruins, ahuost every shot of the enemy which
struck them bringing down masses of masonry
both outside and inside the fort. At one time a
shot struck the ventilator of the magazine, and an
explosion seemed imminent.
About ten in the morning a fleet of United States
frigates and transports were sighted off the bar.
We afterwards learned that they were the Pawnee^
PocaJiontas^ and the Powhatan, with the transport
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 53
Baltic, containing provisions and two hundred and
fifty recruits for tlie fort. They had arrived, how-
ever, too late to succor us in our need.
Notwithstanding the terril^le bomhardment of
Sumter, only one man received any injuiy in the
fort that day.
There were thirty-three laborers, two cooks, and
seven employees of the Engineers' Department in
the fort, besides the garrison. Most of the remain-
ing laborers were Irishmen from Baltimore, who
were not called upon to take any part in a fight.
The excitement was, however, too much for Irish
nature, and they soon enthusiastically began serv-
ing a gun, cheering and laughing at every suc-
cessful shot.
As night came on we ceased to work our guns,
but the enemy continued filing at intervals during
the night. There was anticipation in Sumter that
the squadron we had seen off the bar might try to
re-enforce and provision us during the night, by
using the boats.
The enemy opened fire early the next morning,
causing Sergeant Gruff to say, " Poys, they seem
to be in a good deal of a hurry." After our meagre
breakfast the long roll was beaten, summoning the
men to the guns. A shower fell soon after, and the
enemy for nearly an hour slackened fire, as if, as
Sergeant Gruff said, they were afraid of getting
wet. After the rain was over the gentlemen of
Charleston resumed pelting us with shot and shell,
54 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and one of the latter set fire to the officers' quar-
ters, inside the grounds. The fire was soon extin-
guished, hut as the block had a wooden roof, floors,
and partitions, the hot shot from Fort Moultrie en-
dangered it every moment.
Soon after this a mortar shell burst inside these
quarters, and the flames broke out again. The
officers began to cut away the woodwork, while
the men rolled the powder from the magazine to
the casemate, fearing that the hundreds of barrels
of powder therein would be ignited by the fire.
As fast as we placed them in sheltered positions
the barrels were covered with wet blankets. We
had removed only about a hundred barrels when
the door of the magazine was struck by a shot,
and so bent that it could not be opened.
The rebels, meanwhile, apparently seeing the
smoke of the conflagration inside the fort, now fired
with redoubled iwry. It seemed little less than a
miracle that the magazine was not exploded by a
spark of the fire dropping through the ventilator
among the loose powder.
Let the reader imagine the scene at this hour,
amid the suffocating, blinding smoke, and the crash
of shot and shell.
At last we abandoned all attempts to work, and
soon left the interior and sought the embrasures of
the fort. Even here the smoke choked and blinded
us. The scene in the interior, revealed by occa-
sional glimpses, meanwhile was terrible. Great
THE CURTAIN OF WAR RISES. 55
tongues of flame whirled and roared and licked up
the woodwork of the interior; while black masses
of smoke were sucked by the wind into the case-
mates. Our own shells were exploding in the
interior, and the enemy's shells besides.
A change of wind (or perhaps the conflagration
was spent) now gave us a little relief. The men
once more manned the guns, and hurled a last defi-
ant cannonade at the enemy. It was about noon,
and the garrison flag which had been flying up to
this time was now shot away : it was nailed to a
spar, and raised on the ramparts again.
There was now little left in the interior but
blackened walls and smouldering timbers ; even
the massive wooden gate studded with iron nails
had been consumed, and a blackened hole was in
its place. The new wall protecting the entrance
had crumbled ; the towers were battered down ;
the cast-iron cisterns were smashed, while the
sally port and the embrasures were simply black
and irregular openings.
Iwas standing in an embrasure about two o'clock
that day when I heard a conversation between one
of the men and some one apparently outside.
"What are you doing here?" asked the soldier
roughly.
" I wish to see Major Anderson," meekly replied
the outsider.
" Surrender, and pass your side arms in here,"
replied the soldier.
56 JED'S ADVENTURES.
This done, an officer was called.
Our visitor proved to be Senator Wigfall, who
mistook the shooting away of the flag for a token
of the surrender of the garrison. Later, Roger A.
Pryor and ten or twelve other officers came over
and settled the terms of our capitulation.
The first battle of the rebellion was over, and the
flag of the Republic was down.
That night we slept in the fort, and the next
morning, which was Sunday, marched out with
the honors of war. A parting salute to the garri-
son flag was fired. This proved more destructive
to our men than the ten thousand shots poured into
Sumter by the guns of the enemy. In this salute
the premature discharge of a gun killed a private
soldier, and the fire dropping from the same gun
ignited a shell Avhich exploded and killed five men.
The American flag was lowered from the fortress,
and a silken Confederate flag, made by the women
of Charleston, raised in its place ; also beside it the
palmetto flag of South Carolina.
As we embarked on the steamer Baltic we found
the bay filled with steamers, sailing vessels, boats,
and crafts of all kinds, crowded by people who
had come down the harbor to witness the humilia-
tion of United States soldiers and the National flag.
CHAPTER YI.
HOME OXCE MORE.
/^\UR passage to New York was uneventful.
^-^ We were received with enthusiasm bj the
soldiers and sailors on board the Baltic^ who had
witnessed the battle from afar off.
Mink accompanied Jed and myself. He had
grown lean and dejected from life in Sumter. The
noise and excitement of the bombardment had ap-
parently confused and discouraged him. Even a
dog gets out of patience after a while with too
much noise, the nature of which is incomprehen-
sible to him ; although Mink was ordinarily as brave
a dog as ever hung liis tail half-mast at the sound
of a gun.
Upon our arrival in New York, the garrison, to
their surjDrise, were regarded as heroes. Musicians
and privates, as well as officers, were interviewed
by New York reporters. Most of the latter could
describe the fight little better than Corporal O'Keif,
who, after talking about everything else, confined
his description of the fight to the assertion that it
was " a bothering bit of nyse."
The officers, when recognized in the streets of
New York, were in danger of seeing themselves
57
58 JED'S ADVENTURES.
made ludicrous by being carried on men's shoulders.
However much elation may be experienced by the
performers, the chief personage in such an elevation
usually feels cheap and out of place.
The enthusiasm evoked by the stubborn resist-
ance of Sumter, was but the beginning of a Na-
tional war spirit Avhich in spite of many discourage-
ments grew stronger and stronger until the war
closed in the triumph of our arms.
The two months succeeding the fall of Sumter,
though so eventful to the nation, were the reverse
to Jed and myself. The little garrison, after ar-
riving in New York, was soon depleted by fur-
loughs, discharges, orders for detached service, and
also promotion. The term of my service, and also
Jed's, was about to expire. Sergeant Gruff had
made application to be put on detached duty, the
details of which he kept secret from us.
JNIost soldiers are anxious for a discharge from
the army from the time they enlist until the term
of enlistment expires, and yet, with singular incon-
sistency, when they are discharged soon tire of citi-
zen freedom, and go back to military life.
Serofeant Gruff had tried to settle down as a citi-
zen several times, but army routine and habits had
become almost a necessity of his existence, and he
was always glad to get back to it. Hence he divided
the world into two classes, soldiers and citizens,
and greatly to the discredit of the latter.
When we asked him once why he didn't leave the
HOME ONCE MORE. 59
army he replied, " Poys, I've peen made too long
to pe mate over."
One evening, while discussing our prosj^ective
citizenship, the old sergeant said, " Yat vill you do
mit yourselves after you gets a discharge? "
'^ Go home," answered both Jed and myself in a
breath.
" Vat vill you do there ? "
I replied, " I shall go to school."
Jed said, '^ I shall get me a little store, and sell
candy and peanuts and such stuff."
" Humph I a sutler," growled Sergeant Gruff with
a sneer. '' You'd petter come pack and enlist mit
your company again."
We finally drew our pay, were mustered out of
the service, and were " free and independent " once
more.
On the morning in which we were packed and
ready for home. Sergeant Gruff made his appear-
ance on the dock, in light marching order, and em-
barked on the little steamer, en roiLte for the city
with us. He explained his conduct by saying he
had been assigned to recruiting duty in Boston.
" My poys," said he, '' I keeps my eyes on you, to
see dot you ton't fool yourself mit mischief."
Upon our arrival in Boston we were accompanied
to the Old Colony depot by Sergeant Gruff, who
bade us an affectionate good-by, saying, —
"I come to see you some dime, youngsters. Now
ton't go into mischief too far,"
60 JED'S ADVENTURES.
As we alighted from the cars at the little village
of Centerboro, it was apparently unchanged, as if
we had left it but yesterday. We recognized
familiar faces in the streets on every side, but no
one recognized us.
Jed, accompanied by Mink, went in search of a
sister living on another road, while I made my way
across the fields to Aunt Temperance's home. I
knocked, when she came to the door looking not
one day older than when I left her protection. It
was some time before she could understand that the
strapping young man at her door was the perverse
boy who had revolted at her discipline four years
before.
Her welcome was as unfeigned and hearty as
anything I've ever known. A choking sensation
pervaded her speech, and tears came to the eyes of
the little woman with the vigorous hugging she
gave me. She confided to me that during my ab-
sence she had had all sorts of good luck, not the
least of which was that a relative had left us, by
bequest, several hundred dollars.
That afternoon Jed called at the cottage. When
my aunt came to the door and Mink heard her
voice he gave one dazed and frightened look, and
with a pathetic, reproachful glance over his shoulder
at Jed, scampered away Avith his tail between his
legs, as if he would say, " I guess I'll be excused
from visiting her again." It was some time before
he could be coaxed into the house, so vivid an im-
HOME ONCE MORE. 61
pression had his last visit there made on him.
Aunt Tempy was as much chagrined at this as we
were amused.
"You see, ma'am," said Jed respectfully, but
with a humorous twinkle in his eye, " Ave've never
talked over coming home with Mink, for fear he
would not appreciate its advantages, and he is taken
by surprise ; besides, he ain't much used to women."
My aunt expressed herself as very much surprised
at Jed's manly ways and improved looks, and de-
clared she never knew any one so much benefited
by travel, as she termed it.
Jed had not been able to find any of his relatives
or friends, and therefore my aunt insisted upon his
making his home with us. Her kindness extended
even to Mink. A happier woman than Aunt Tempy
at her prodigal's return Avas not to be found in that
town.
When it was learned in the neighborhood that we
had returned, and had participated in the affair at
Sumter, the little house fairly swarmed with visitors.
My aunt fully sympathized with my desire to
gain a better education, and tried to persuade Jed,
who had steadily grown in her favor, also to take
a term at school.
We made arrangements to attend the village
academy, and my aunt soon became very proud of
the two young men who accompanied her to church,
sat in her pew, and whom she introduced to the
minister.
62 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Politics and war Avere at this time the staple of
conversation; and Jed and I talked so constantly
about Sergeant Gruff, that my aunt asked us to
invite him to come to visit us. Hence it soon
became the habit of the old sergeant to come Sat-
urday night and stay over Sunday with his " poys."
The old soldier admired my aunt very much.
" Py Shorge, poj^s," he would say, " vat a cap-
tain she vould have mate if she had been porn a
man ! " The neatness of her house and its sur-
roundings, and glimpses of her good sense in man-
agement, gave him an exalted opinion of her
qualities.
" And dot leetle voman vipped you two strapping
poys and a tog, so jovl vrunned away ! " he would
say, while he laughed until he was out of breath
and tears came to his eyes.
We were studjdng hard in school when an unex-
pected event, which we shall chronicle in another
chapter, gave a new direction to our thoughts and
life.
CHAPTER VII.
IVIAKING READY.
^T^HE defeat of the Union army at Bull Run, on
-L the 21st of July, 1861, had an effect on the
North like the uj^heaval of an earthquake. The
result of the news in our little village was in part
grotesque. The whole town, or at least the male
portion of it, discussed the battle. On the corners
of the streets, over garden walls, and in the mowing
field, it was again fought over with a vigor out of
proportion to the military knowledge of those who
discussed it. It was perhaps well for the country
1ft that these village tacticians and strategists mostly
found it inconvenient to bring their knowledge to
a more bloody field.
" What are we going to du with them seseshers
down on the Pot-a-mack?" said Silas Eaton, the
shoemaker, to John Warren, a sensible and solid
farmer, who was waiting while a pair of shoes were
being mended.
" Uncle John," as he was called, was a magnifi-
cent old man, and very deliberate of speech. He
replied, —
" It appears to me, neighbor Silas, that the first
thing for us to do, is to learn this dreadful trade of
64 JED'S ADVEXTUBES.
war, so as to know it better than tlie people wlio
would destroy this great Union."
The old man spoke earnesth% and there was a
beautiful flush on liis grand old face, as if he were
inclined, notwithstanding his burden of threescore
years, to learn the trade.
" Nonsense ! " said. Silas. '' If that old fellow,
General McDowell, hadn't been a right-down traitor,
we should have whipped them rebels. Our men
fit and fit and fit, and our folks had the best of it
tu, until the rebels brought up some new men, and
that old McDowell let um do it, tu ! " .
" There may have been fault," responded Uncle
John, "but I find it hard to manage a few men on
my farm, so that they will do the work according
to my plans. Perhaps General McDoAvell experi-
enced some such inconvenience with men not
learned in the ways of war I "
Silas stopped short with his work, and began with
a piece of chalk on a side of sole leather to demon-
strate the grand strategy which should have won
the battle. He had been reading a popular history
of Napoleon, and was full of martial absurchties.
" You see," said Silas, " McDowell should have
formed in hollow squares and received 'em on the
pints of their bayonets."
" Suppose they didn't want to git on to the ends
of them bayonets ? " said another inquiringly.
"Plague take you," said Silas angrily. "You
throw cold water on to most everything ! "
MAKING REAbt, 65
Silas's manner was provokingly confident, as
Uncle John stood towering above him, waiting for
his shoes. At first Uncle John looked vexed, and
then, as if struck with the ludicrousness of the
scene, his eyes twinkled humorously as he inquired,
'' How long did it take you, Silas, to learn your
trade ? "
''Three years," said Silas, resuming liis work,
"and I've been learninor it ever since and hain't crot
it learned yet/'
"Well," said Uncle John, "it would probably
take you as long to learn to fight battles as it did
to make and mend shoes."
" I believe my senses. Uncle John, you are a rebel
sympatliizer ! " exclaimed Silas, now thoroughly
angry.
This was not an uncommon way, at that time, of
meeting arguments wliich tended to make apparent
the fact that the war mio-ht be a loner one.
Sergeant Gruff, in his occasional visits, was
closely questioned by our townspeople. The old
soldier was polite, but it was evident to those who
knew him well, that liis contempt of citizens grew
with each interview.
" Dese beople," said the old sergeant, " dink
dot solchers are porn, not mate by study and dis-
cipline and di'ill."
The presence of the sergeant at the groceiy
gatherings repressed in part the disposition of
those there congregated to discuss noisily the mill-
ee mb's adventures.
tary situation, but it did not prevent their ques-
tioning him. "How long will the war last?"
"Why was General McDowell defeated ? " and like
questions were rapidly propounded.
"I don't know/' responded Sergeant Gruff to
the last question, "but I dink the men marched
too far, and fought too long, for new troops. If
they had had a goot reserve to have prought up,
they vould not have been opliged to have vrun
away."
"Why can't we whip these fellers, the same as
General Scott did the Mexicans?" they asked.
"Vy," said the sergeant crisply, "pecause the
men dot fight us are shust as goot men as ve are ! "
Thus the discussion went on ; the habit of na-
tional glorification on one hand met the disposition
to be practical on the other, and, like two ocean cur-
rents meeting, threw the placid waters of ordinary
village life into commotion. " Thinking bayonets,"
"intelligent soldiers," were expressions much in
vogue at that time. Citizens did not realize that
the superiority of an army to a mob was not in its
uniforms and feathers, but in discipline, and the
subordination of the many individual wills to one.
The North responded grandly to the call to arms,
and " War meetings " and " Flag raisings " were
the common means of attesting their patriotism ;
and whatever may be said against the North, it
must always be conceded that it was stimulated
more by its defeats than by its victories.
MAKING READY, 67
A great people, absorbed in industrial enterprise,
interrupted in the pursuits of peace, was impatient
that the obstructions of war should be speedily
brushed away.
"They are going to raise a company in this
town to go to the war," said William Jones, the
blacksmith, into whose shop we had dropped on
our way from school, " and I'm going to enlist."
A war meeting was called, and speeches were
made by the lawyer, the schoolmaster, and the
minister. Sergeant Gruff was in the audience, and
was called on for a speech. The old sergeant, in
his parade coat and polished brasses, looked every
inch a soldier, as he faced the audience, and in his
broken English said a few earnest, impressive
words.
" I have fought for this free government already
through one war : war is no pastime ; it is hard,
bloody, earnest and self-sacrificing work, for one's
country. This government is tlueatened with dis-
memberment by misguided men, and the nation
calls upon her sons to defend her, and restore the
Union of States. We must all die once, and it
matters not so much when we die, as how we die,
and for what we die. We can make this war short
only by united action as a people, and by consent-
ing patiently to learn the discipline of soldiers ;
for discipline is the moral force by which an army
exists, and is able to conquer. Discipline gives
direction to patriotism and bravery and noble en-
68 JED'S ADVENTURES.
thusiasm, and without the power gained thereby,
all is wasted."
This speech, the substance of which we give,
made a good impression ; and, after a few eloquent
but less practical speeches, there was a call for vol-
unteers. A score of men responded by soberly
dedicating themselves to their country's service.
The resolution of myself and Jed not to enlist
at that time was severely tried, for though we had
a natural desire to add our names to' those already
enrolled, we had promised Sergeant Gruff to con-
sult him before we enlisted. My Aunt Tempy was
very patriotic where other people's relations were
concerned, but she did not express an equally fer-
vent desire to have me die a soldier's death. So
Jed and myself still remained at the Academy.
The day of our enlistment was not to be long
postponed. Sergeant Gruff, whose term of service
in the regular army had now expired, was mustered
out, and, at the very earnest solicitation of the
colonel of the regiment being formed, was made
captain of a company raised in our village.
As it was common at this stage of the war, to
promote men to military positions for their marked
popularity rather than their military ability, and
as officers often occupied positions which they did
not fill, but simply rattled around in, there was a
certain flavor of unpopularity in the appointment
of Gruff. The service often suffered from similar
causes in the months following.
MAKING READY. 69
Charles Weston, the son of our village lawyer,
had been an applicant for this captaincy; and,
although he had neither military knowledge nor
experience, he was sore because he had failed in
his ambition.
During our stay in camp he was, however, very
popular, having the talents of an actor in an emi-
nent degree. He could imitate the gestures, voice,
and manner of any village character to perfection,
and had also acquired the talent of making-uj), to
use a theatre phrase, and took, therefore, a promi-
nent part in the camp theatricals with which we
occasionally amused ourselves.
The defeat at Bull Run had led to a more careful
selection of officers ; for that battle proved that,
though a man may be a good fellow, he may at the
same time prove to be a very poor officer. Besides
this, the colonel, who had some military training,
had faith in Sergeant Gruff's ability to make good
some of his own deficiencies in military knowledge,
and thus urged his promotion. The sergeant was
far from knowing these facts, or he would not have
accepted the position.
It was a wise choice, however, and Sergeant Gruff
began at once the thankless work of making soldiers
from citizens.
Human nature does not readily adjust itself to
the unnatural grooves of military life, and men long
accustomed to self-direction do not quickly submit
with unquestioning obedience to military exactions.
70 JED'S ADVENTURES.
He, however, soon taught his commissioned and
under officers the necessity of forming strict mill
tary habits, and inspired them with a pride to excel
in the manual of arms and in company evolutions.
As he experienced great difficulty in finding among
the volunteers, men fit to teach properly the rudi-
ments, such as the manual of arms and the facings,
and as he could not attend personally to the task,
he constantly called Jed and myself to his assist-
ance as drill-masters of squads, — duties for which
we were very well qualified.
We soon became favorites among the young men
of the company, and as the consequence of this asso-
ciation felt a great desire to belong to that par-
ticular company. So, notwithstanding my aunt's
entreaty and Captain Gruff's earnest remonstrance,
which was prompted more by a desire to please the
"lee tie voman" than from any real desire to thwart
us, we soon enlisted.
The captain comforted my aunt by saying, " Veil,
Miss Tempy, I can take petter care of dem poys
dan any von else, and so dey had j)etter go mit
me." As it was evident to her that she could not
keep me long at home, and as she had no other
motive in influencing Jed than to influence me, she
reluctantly consented, saying that she preferred
having me go with a good man like Mr. Gruff
than with any other. At this compliment Captain
Gruff winked, as if my aunt were deluded in re-
gard to his goodness, but that he was Avilling to
"It was a fine sight to see the old soldier dreamily smoking
liis pipe." — Page 71.
MAKING READY. 71
suffer her favorable opinions rather than contradict
her.
The old sergeant was noticeably improved. He
spent many of his evenings at my aunt's ; sometimes
reading from a favorite book, but more often regard-
ing Miss TemjDy's deft housekeeping with silent
admiration. He attended church with us regularly,
and sometimes the weekly prayer-meeting, and
completely shunned bar-room associations. It was
a fine sight to see the old soldier dreamily smoking
his pipe in the afternoon, while Mink lay on his
knees asleep, and Jed read the newspaper, and my
aunt, in her trim dress and white apron, spread the
supper table under the honeysuckles of the wide
veranda.
" I tell you," said the old soldier to Jed one even-
ing, on his way to the post-office, " if I vas a younger
man and a petter von, and der vas no war, and Miss
Temperance was still a single voman " — and here
the old soldier blushed to the tip of his nose, and
left his conclusion unfinished.
Squire Weston was a neighbor, and a member of
the same church we attended. Since my aunt had
come into possession of some money, he had advised
her regarding its investment, and sometimes visited
at the house when Captain Gruff was present. As
my aunt was still a young woman and the squire
was a widower, the gossip among the neighbors was
that the squire would not be adverse to making her
Mrs. Weston. Though I doubt if Miss Tempy
7^ JED'S ADVENTURES.
ever heard the gossip, or cast a thought in this di-
rection, yet the squire's interest in her material and
spiritual welfare seemed constantly on the increase.
The squire was what the villagers termed " fore-
handed," and one who kept a bright lookout ahead
for his worldly chances. Though rumor said he
had foreclosed morto-ao^es under circumstances that
might be called sharj), yet he was generally esteemed
honest, and also a good citizen.
Whether the squire liked to hear himself talk
better than the soldier, or whether he disapproved
of his conversation, I do not laiow; but it was ob-
servable that when Captain Gruff was holding forth,
as he did sometimes, on the duty of able-bodied men
to serve their country in her hour of need, the squire
would get up and go out, while my aunt was often
so intent upon listening to Captain Gruff that a half
hour would sometimes elapse before she would no-
tice his absence. The squire said nothing against
Captain Gruff, but he said much against the habits
of smoking and drinking, and observed that men
were seldom of good Christian conduct who had
been trained in the army.
My aunt, who regarded Captain Gruff as a model
of goodness, and never seemed to think that this
talk had a bearing on the old soldier's character, had,
previous to my enlistment, used the deacon's ideas
to dissuade me from again entering the service.
Once, when she hinted to the old soldier that he
might resign and let some younger man take his
MAKING READY. 73
place, the captain's cheek flushed as he replied,
" Dis country is my country, and neets men of ex-
perience to tirect and teach young men to fight its
patties. I have not always been a goot man, but
it vould not be prave nor manly to desert my coun-
try at dis dime." The old sergeant, who had begun
harshly and in anger, now softened his voice as he
said, —
" I do not vish you to tink me so mean a man as
to serve in dimes of peace, and stays at home ven
de war comes and my country neets me. Ah I Miss
Tempy, if I vas a petter man " — here he turned
away, and left some brooding thought or emotion
unuttered. What my aunt's thoughts were I know
not, but after this she treated Captain Gruff Avith
even more deference and respect than before.
In a few wrecks the regimental organization was
completed, and every evening the villagers gathered
to see the dress-parade at the encampment near the
toAvn.
A few Sundays before the regiment was to leave
for the front, our company was invited to attend
religious services at the church. The sermon was
an eloquent one, and discoursed of the duties of
citizens to God and the State. On many this left
a good impression, but on none was it so lasting as
on Jed, with whom it was destined to be followed by
still deeper experiences, which influenced his whole
character, and made him a sincere, though not de-
monstrative, Christian.
74 JED'S ADVENTURES.
After inspection and drill and dress-parade had
worn threadbare the thin patience of these early
volunteers, they were at last summoned to the
front. It was a singular contradiction in human
nature, that those most impatient to be called to
the front were soon among those most eager to get
home again.
All was bustle and confusion when the regiment
got its marching orders. There were tears on old
faces and young. Mothers said good-by to beard-
less boys ; wives to husbands ; sisters to brothers ;
and the bright, sunny faces of unthinking or of un-
heeding youth were for the moment clouded and
wet with tears, as they said parting words, marched
to the cars, and were off to the war.
Many of these young men never returned to their
homes, but fell in defence of the nation to wliich
they unselfishly dedicated their lives. Some went
down in the front of battle, some died on the march,
others in hospitals or in prison.
CHAPTER VIII.
VOLXnSTTEERS IN WASHINGTON.
/^N our route to Washington we received many
^^ flattering attentions. Men, women, and
children were gathered at the raih^oad stations,
and upon our arrival, as well as departure, we were
greeted with cheers, waving of handkerchiefs, and
other patriotic demonstrations. Had we eaten all
the food pressed upon us we should have never
reached Washington alive, but have died of a sur-
feit or of indigestion, such was the disposition to
feast us.
We had taken the boat at New London, en route
for New York, when I met with an encounter that
reads like an invention. I had selected a sleeping-
berth, and was fairly in possession and composing
myself to sleep, when the curtain was rudely pushed
aside, and a familiar voice exclaimed, '' And moight
I ask who is so koind as to be occupying me berth ? "
I astonished the intruder in turn by snatching his
hat from his head and exclaiming, " If you don't
keep out of here. Corporal O'Keif, I'll di'um a tattoo
on your head."
'' And be George ! I never had anything this
youngster didn't manage to get into," exclaimed
15
76 JED'S ADVENTURES.
the corporal, with an evident relish of the situation.
At this instant Jed stuck his head out of the
berth below mine, and, catching the corporal by
the leg, with a shrill wliistle, peculiar to himself
and familiar to the corporal, exclaimed in droll imi-
tation of O'Keif's tones, "And sure, here's them
plaguy byes again ! "
The climax was reached when Captain Gruff,
awakened by the noise, protruded his head from a
neighboring berth, and recognizing the voice of his
former subordinate, and forgetting his surroundings,
cried out in his sternest tones, —
" O'Keif, go to your quarters, and don't keep dis
garrison avake all night mit yer fooling."
The doughty corporal, though surprised at this
encounter, was glad to see us again, as we were to
meet liim in this odd manner.
O'Keif, with many original Irish flourishes, told
us that he and others of the 1st Artillery had been
campaigning with Patterson's command, in the
Shenandoah Yalle}^ ; and that, as his time of service
had expired a month previous, he had been making
use of his liberty to visit friends in Connecticut,
but was now returning to his old command with
the purpose of again re-enlisting. Before we
reached New York he was, however, persuaded to
take a first sergeant's position in another company
of our regiment. Thus were brought together once
more some of the dramatis per 807ice of this narrative.
Upon our arrival in New York we marched
VOLUNTEERS IN WASHINGTON. 77
through its crowded streets, our measured tread
and swaying bodies keeping time to the new and
stirring lyric, '' John Brown's body lies a moulder-
ing." Enthusiastic cheers, waving flags, and shouts
of congratulation and greeting were heard on every
side.
" If every man here doesn't feel himself a hero,
it isn't because they don't treat him as if he
were," said Jed, who "touched elbows" with me.
When arrived at Philadelphia we were feasted
at the Cooper Shop Restaurant, and waited on by
young ladies who were so attentive to our wants,
and so beautiful in their enthusiasm, that we left
that hosi^itable and patriotic city with regret.
Though several of our regiment stimulaterl their
enthusiasm artificially, the majority arrived in
Washington in good order, notwithstanding the
natural and unnatural heat of their patriotism.
We were assigned on our arrival to the cramped
and somewhat dirty barracks of the "Soldiers' Re-
treat," near the Baltimore and Ohio depot.
The city of Washington, at this time in its his-
tory, was one of surprising contrasts. The beauty
of its public buildings was in striking contrast to
the tumble-down, shanty-like appearance of most
of its private edifices, and the dirtiness of its side-
walks and streets.
The numerous hogs on duty as scavengers wore
a grieved and hopeless look on their elongated
faces, as if their duties were too much for them.
78 JED'S ADVENTURES.
A few mornings after this we went into camp
near Washington. Here the process of making
soldiers from citizens began in earnest. Men ac-
customed to self-direction did not readily submit
to being made over in the military image. Accus-
tomed to working each day for some definite and
immediate result, the constant drill and never-end-
ing round of camp duties, so essential to the forma-
tion of military habits, seemed to them intolerable
foolishness. The necessity of being punctual in
all duties was but little appreciated by these raw
volunteer soldiers of 1861.
Roll call was at six o'clock, and punishment was
meted out for delays. This was followed by the
breakfast call a half hour later, where the men were
required to form in line with their tin plates and
drinking-cups, or, failing therein, go without their
breakfast. Why not happen into the cook-house at
their own convenience ? Tliis seemed a cruel and
needless exaction.
If a pass Avere granted a soldier, he must return
before its expiration or be punished. For small
offences he did penance in the guard-house, where
he sawed wood ; or he swept the parade ground
under direction of the guard. Our colonel at first
punished men by placing them on barrels, Avhere
they stood for hours like groups of statuary. At
other camps men were to be seen withdogs chained
to them for breach of discipline. Captain Gruff
had remonstrated against such punishments as
VOLUNTEERS IN WASHINGTON. 79
unmilitary, and the}^ were abandoned in our regi-
ment.
Passes to visit Washington proved demoralizing,
and at Captain Gruff's suggestion were no longer
granted to members of our company. This made
the captain very unpopular. Disorderly men who
had broken rules, and had been punished with in-
flexible rigor, wrote home heaping abuse on Captain
Gruff. Among the loudest of these growlers was
Sergeant Weston. He did not take either kindly or
naturally to discipline or drill, and though he had
been indebted to Captain Gruff for direction and
suggestion in the performance of his military duties,
yet he did not hate him less, but more, for these
favors. The result was that Captain Gruff, like
many other strict military men of this j>eriod, be-
came unpopular in camp and at home.
As the winter months came on we began to get
ready for winter quarters. The sides of our
huts were built of logs with A tents for roofs.
The cliimneys were of sticks cemented with mud,
though a flour or pork barrel often in part took
the place of the stick chimney. The floor was of
clay, pounded level and hard. Two bunks raised
from the ground on either side, with a rough table
and a few seats, made very comfortable Avinter
quarters. During the construction of these huts,
drill and guard duty were omitted.
The diill and discipline of the army at this time
were not thrown away as many suppose, but were
80 JED'S ADVENTURES.
the welding force which afterwards enabled the
Army of the Potomac to sustain the continued shock
of battle, and preserve its morale and efficiency in
defeat. It takes time to make an army.
It will be remembered that the newspapers and
citizens did not think these preparations needful,
and grew impatient at our delay to move on the
enemy and end the war !
They inquired impatiently, " Why don't the
army move ? "
If these interrogating growlers of 1861 and '62
had been marched with a moderate allowance of
personal baggage from Washington to Hall's Hill
or Fairfax Court-House, they would have speedily
got an answer in the glue-like tenacity with which
their feet clung to the mud, and the mud clung to
their feet. This gulf of Virginia mud between us
and the enemy proved a Jericho of strength more
effective than all the wooden guns of the in-
trenchments of Manassas, and which all the rams'
horns of the public press and opinion were impotent
to overthrow.
O'Keif was a man who had been thoroughly
drilled in the regular service, and had acted as
drill master therein ; yet he fell in the esteem of
the company because he was, as they termed it, so
fussy ; he was constantly adjusting the position of
their hands on the muskets, and of their feet, and
the position of each man on drill. This unpopu-
larity found echoes at home. One day I received
VOLUNTEERS IN WASHINGTON. 81
a letter from my aunt, and as letters similar in
spirit were constantly written to men in the army
I give herewith a copy.
My dear Dick : — The letters you send to me are grate-
fully received, and also tlie money, which I put in the bank
for you, my dear boy ; I would like to see you so much.
Squire Weston has advised me to invest the money 1 have in
Western railroad bonds, though I have not placed it in his
hands. He has also advised me to mortgage my little place
and putthemoney in these bonds. It seems a good invest-
ment. What do you think about it ? It seems to me safe, for
the Squire is such a good man, and is certainly a safe ad-
viser. Give my love to Jed and my regards to Captain Gruff.
I have sent you a box of good things to eat, and IMary
Weston has put in a needle-book and a Testament for Jed.
Your aftectionate aunt,
Temperance Xickerson.
p. S. — Please tell Lieutenant Weston that his Aunt Lydia
says get some campliire for his headaches and stomach. I
hope you get enough to eat. Is it true that Captain Gruff
drinks lager beer, as they say he does here ?
T. N.
P. S. — I hope it is not true that Captain Gruff swears at
the men of his company, or that he is very hard and tyranni-
cal with them, as it is rumored here he is.
Your aunt,
T.N.
P. S. — Why don't the army go over to Richmond and
take the rebels prisoners and end the war ? Don't eat the
cheese all up at one time. I have put into the box some
tobacco for Captain GrufTs pipe. I hope it won't get into
the butter or the frosted cake,
Y'ours,
T. X.
82 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Mary Weston of whom my aunt wrote was the
belle of the village, and both Jed and I had paid
her some attention while at home. I read this let-
ter of my aunt's to Captain Gruff, and he turned
red with rage and exclaimed, —
" Dot leetle voman vill lose all her money, foolin'
it into the hands of that bald-heated old squire.
I shall writes her some tings myself." What he
wrote I did not know, but suspect he told her
bluntly his suspicions ; and he must have spoken
very plainly, as Gruff had a soldier's directness, and
was never inclined to mince matters.
My aunt did not answer liis letter, which was her
way of saying nothing she needed to mend, and at
the same time showing her displeasure.
The army encamped around Washington in the
winter and spring of 1862 Avas now about to move.
General Banks had crossed the Potomac into Vir-
ginia by the way of Harper's Ferry. And the
Army of the Potomac had boldly marched through
thick and thin of mud to Manassas ; and then, find-
ing the enemy had abandoned his defences there,
marched back to Washington again, covered with
more mud than glory.
<9
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE PENINSULA.
rj^HE Army of the Potomac was at last ready to
-*- make a decisive movement against the enemy.
Huge steamers, tugs, and sailing vessels, barges,
and even canal boats, thronged the adjacent waters
of Washington and Alexandria. Marching orders
came at last, and, leaving our comfortable winter
quarters regretfully, we marched through Washing-
ton and embarked on a steamer. We dropped down
the Potomac, and the spires and domes of Wash-
ington and Alexandria soon faded away in the blue
haze of the early morning light.
The little steamer throbbed its way down the
river into Chesapeake Bay, and on the afternoon of
the second day our regiment landed at Fort Mon-
roe, on old Point Comfort, at the western point of
that peninsula formed by the York and James
rivers. This was the first step of the army in what
is called the Peninsula campaign, and its convey-
ance by water to this place, over two hundred miles
from Washington, was an enterprise of such colos-
sal magnitude that a foreign critic has called it
" the step of a giant."
This vast army and its material can scarcely be
83
84 JED'S ADVENTURES.
conceived of by the boys of this generation, for an
army is composed not only of its fighting men, but
of thousands of others. There are orderlies, offi-
cers' servants, cooks, drivers of baggage wagons
and trains, besides telegraph mechanics and appa-
ratus, blacksmiths, saddlers, farriers, and pontoon-
iers or bridge-builders, and engineers. Hundreds
of tons of gunpowder, shot, shell, and cartridges,
as well as huge siege guns, trains of forty-four bat-
teries, trains of ambulances, telegraph trains, bridge
trains, baggage trains, and, above all, trains of food
for the subsistence of the army. The animals alone
for this army were nearly fifteen thousand in num-
ber, which shows something of its magnitude, and
the enormous equipage required by it.
A military writer says that an army, like a serpent,
moves only on its belly. This is but a quaint way
of saying that an army can exist and advance upon
an enemy only as it has the means of feeding itself.
Whatever, therefore, stops or delays this food sup-
ply endangers or destroys an army. Hence to keep
open its base of supplies in protecting the road to
it, so the enemy cannot reach it, complicates all its
operations. An army, cut off by the enemy from
its base of supplies, is like a man trying to eat while
his throat is in the grip of an enemy.
Such was the condition of Lee's armj^ before Rich-
mond, when Grant seized the last railroad communi-
cating with its supplies, and such was the condition
of the army under Lord Cornwallis when it sur-
ON THE PENINSULA. 85
rendered at Yorktown, on the same peninsula which
we were about to invade.
Keeping open its lines of communication for the
feeding of an army while operating before an enemy
is, therefore, an all-important consideration for its
commander.
It was the material and food for the Army of
the Potomac which was being landed at Old Point
Comfort, the western terminus of that peninsula,
fifty miles in length, wliich this vast army was to
travel.
It was a scene of seeming confusion, but of real
order, and every movement was planned by a mas-
ter-hand. Our company crossed a bridge near
where this landing was taking place, and then,
passing the chimney stacks and blackened remains
of the village of Hampton, took up its quarters in
an open field beyond.
Our first procedure was to pitch our tents.
This was done b}' buttoning together four or more
squares of canvas about a yard and a half wide,
one of which was carried by each infantry soldier.
This canvas shanty was often used as a roof over
side walls of sod or cla}^, or, as at this time, pieces
of rails, with mud plastered over the crevices, and
earth heaped against the outside. Here four or
five, according to the number who contributed
each a square of this tent, made their abiding-
place in the field. This was distinguished from
the A tent used by soldiers at more permanent
86 JED'S ADVENTURES.
camping-places by being sarcastically called a dog-
tent. At first the soldiers felt as if they were
treated like dogs in having to use them, but their
convenience proved so great as to cause them to
be put into general use in future campaigns.
When this part of our work had been attended
to, we proceeded to cook breakfast. Our haver-
sacks, made of canvas, were shaped like large
letter envelopes, about sixteen inches square, and
were suspended from the shoulders by a band.
At tliis time mine contained a tin plate, a knife
and fork, a piece of pork, about twenty squares of
hard bread, some sugar and ground coffee mixed
together ; also a little salt and pepper in a paper.
On the outside of the haversack was fastened, by
its strap, a tin quart cup used for drinking or for
cooking coffee. Occasionally a canteen would be
used for carrying molasses, but this was usually
the receptacle for coffee or water. From these
haversacks were taken the ingredients for a break-
fast. Osgood (the company cook when in more
permanent camps), Sutherland, a young fellow of
seventeen, Jed, and myself, formed our squares
into a tent, and then proceeded to cook breakfast.
First, making a &e of fence -rails, without trou-
bling ourselves to cut them, we soaked our hard
bread in water, and then, frying our pork in a
small frying-pan, put the soaked hard bread into
this pan, and added a little molasses to give it a
flavor, as Osgood said. This concoction was called
ON THE PENINSULA. 87
by some "son of a gun," and by others a name
more sulphureous.
While this was being done, our coffee was put
in position to be cooked. The long-extending mils
with which our fire was made, resembled a grand-
father-long-legs (with the fire and frying-pan for
his body). This extension of material caused us
a mishap which nearly cost us our breakfast.
Jed was bringing fuel, when some one shouted,
'' Jed, Jed I " whereupon he turned, and his rails,
coming in contact with several heads, levelled
them to the ground. One of these victims, in
dodging further damages, stumbled against the
ends of the burning rails, overturned our cof-
fee, and seriously disturbed our frying-pan and
fire.
The breakfast beinor cooked it was distributed in
our four tin plates, and was eaten while we were
seated on our rubber blankets. It is almost need-
less to say, many more pretentious meals are eaten
with less relish than was ours. Hundreds of men
around us were similarly engaged. Here one, more
hungry than particular, held slices of pork over
the fire, on a sharpened stick or the rammer of
his gun, until the pork was shrivelled and black-
ened, and then ate it with his hard-tack and
coffee. Others made a still more simple morning
meal of hard-tack, between two squares of which
was a slice of raw pork, perhaps deluged with
molasses.
88 JED'S ADVENTURES.
After breakfast came guard mounting, and the
consequent grumbling of men assigned to that
duty ; in the evening dress parade, rather informal
(at which white gloves were superfluous) ; and roll
call. The parade was formed and dismissed. Taps ;
and all sounds in camp were suppressed, and the
army of over a hundred thousand men slept to the
measured tread of its sentinels, the call of its
grand I'ounds, and the angry protest of its miles
of hungry mules.
On the morrow we begin the march up the Pe-
ninsula, with green grass beneath our feet, the sky
clear, and the balm of spring in the air. The
march of an army is apparently an inextricable
confusion. The order is route step, and the arms
are carried at will. The baggage wagons, pontoon
trains, and artillery seem thorouglily mixed with
the infantry and mud.
We had not marched far before the hitherto
cloudless sky was overspread with clouds, the
rain began to fall, the soil became more and more
like hasty-pudding in its consistency, and worry-
ing in its suction and stickiness. The marching
soldiers Avere drenched with rain, and wearily
trod Virginia mud, with, as Jed expressed it,
more prospect of reaching bottom than of reaching
their destination.
At last the huge army was brought to a halt before
a cordon of earthworks formed across the Penin-
sula. Our camp was pitched on a plateau of the
ON THE PENINSULA. 89
York River, with a little creek in our front. The
enemy's Avorks at Gloucester Point were on the
opposite side of the river, and the Yorktown bat-
teries fronted us. This same spot was the scene
of CoruAvallis's surrender, Oct. 19, 1781.
A group had gathered around our fire of rails,
in the mud back of a little hillock, near a peach
orchard. Several little fires were added together
in the unit of a bivouac. A party was sent
with pack-mules to Shipping Point for rations,
of which we were nearly destitute. The group
was lit up by the ruddy fire framed by the outside
darkness. Jed was extended at full length on his
rubber blanket, face down, with elbows resting on
the ground and hands supporting his face. Captain
Gruff, who was a casual visitor, occupied the seat of
honor on our only cracker-box, the contents of
which had been eaten for breakfast. He was smok-
ing his pipe with great gravity and deliberation.
His huge mustache was twisted and pointed with
unusual severity, and there was a shadow on his
face beyond that which was cast by his overhang-
ing rugged brows.
"Are Ave going to liaA^e a fight, Captain Gruff?"
inquired young Sutherland.
The captain smoked his pipe reflectiA^ely, and
then, taking the long stem from his mouth, made a
gesture towards the enemy's works Avith it and said,
"Ah, dot Magruter is a sly tog. I serA^ed unter
him vonce, and he had a great vay of pouncing
90 JED'S ADVENTURES.
upon us at grand vrounts. A sly tog. Ve can't
tell vat Magruter vill do." Resuming his pipe he
shook his head ominously ; while, gazing into the fire
in an abstracted manner, he occasionally glanced
at Jed.
While the boys chatted and laughed, the old sol-
dier sat in the same absent manner, with clouds
of gloom gathering deeper and deeper on his brow.
Finally, rising and knocking the ashes from his
pipe, he said, touching Jed on the shoulder, and
with a look of something like tenderness which
alwaj^s came to his face when he addressed him,
'' Jed, my poy, I have some vords mit you.
Come." Jed arose from his place by the fire, and,
arm in arm, the old man Avith the boy whom he
loved walked to the captain's quarters.
" I wonder what the old captain wants of Jed,"
said Sutherland.
I replied that I thought Gruff had the blues, and
as he was very fond of Jed he Avanted his company
to drive them away.
In a few minutes a step was heard, and Jed re-
sumed his place in the circle.
" What did the captain want? "
''Oh," said Jed laughingly, "he gave me this
pair of stockings, and told me not to go to sleep
on the wind'ard side of a fire, and all that, you
knoAV."
Lights Avere ordered out (for drums were not
alloAved to be beaten Avbile Ave Avere before York-
ON THE PENINSULA. 91
town), and, lying under our frail shelter-tents, we
were soon sound asleep.
Here let me digress, to say that one characteristic
of the army was its mules, and that of the fifteen
thousand animals of the army at least twelve thou-
sand were these raw, unsubdued hybrids, on whom
military life had left no further impress than
slightly to break them to harness.
The mule, perhaps, illustrates the principle of
natural selection, for no other animal has liis dogged
persistency of life and endurance of hardship.
While he was considered a valuable factor in
the Union army, he Avas not an agreeable one ; for
when he was expected to go he would stop, and
when his feet should have been on the firm earth
they were often found in lively conflict with the
air, describing, with the help of his tail (which
often took the character of an aerial paint-brush),
his surplus of waywardness.
, If there is one who reads these pages who has
never heard the hungry hallelujah of an army
mule at midnight, he has missed the most won-
derful violation of musical rules that exists in
nature. It was this sound that had awakened me
during the night. A mule had set up his hungry
plaint, and then a line of two or three miles of his
comrades were seemingly convulsed in an effort
to surpass his performance. My first thought
on awakening was that the roof of the sky had
been kicked out, or that the stars were shattered
92 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and a portion of the 'universe was falling tlirougK
space.
" What an awful noise those mules make. Jed !
I say, Jed I listen to those mules."
No answer.
Again I called, " I say, Jed ! " when Osgood and
Sutherland hoth awoke.
''Where IS Jed?"
" Don't know,'' sleepily replied Osgood, with a
yawn, while Sutherland said quizzically, " What's
the matter Avith them ar mules ? "
" Guess the knots in the pontoon boats they're
eating don't agree with them," replied Osgood,
with another yaAvn.
While awaiting Jed's return I fell asleep, and
was aroused by the morning sun shining in my
face.
"Where is Jed? " I again inquired.
" I haven't seen him this morning. Hallo !
neither his musket, knapsack, nor haversack is
here," said Sutherland.
At roll call Jed did not answer to his name.
" Private Jedediah Hoskins, absent without leave,"
was put upon the morning report of the company.
I approached the old captain and said, " What has
become of Jed ? "
The old man shook his head, and, without reply,
walked off with a deeper gloom on his face than I
had ever seen there before.
The day passed, and Jed did not report for duty,
ON THE PENINSULA. 93
nor return to explain his mysterious absence.
Then rumor, attempting to fill in the blank of mys-
tery, said he had deserted.
I went again to Captain Gruff's quarters. He
was writing up his reports, with two cracker-boxes
for a desk.
" They say in the company that Jed has deserted,
captain."
The old man's red weatherbeaten face turned lit-
erally white, his goatee worked convulsively for a
moment, but he made no reply. Looking up after
a moment he said, sharply, as if in defiance, —
" Corporal Nickerson, vat you vish to say ? "
" I wish to know where Private Hoskins is," I
replied, assuming the position of attention, and the
tone of a subordinate before his superior.
The old soldier, with more kindness in his tones,
replied, " Don't vorry, my poy, about Jed. I don't
dink he has teserted." And then, with a tremor
in his voice, added, " His absence gives me much
pain. I can't say vare he is. Go to your quarters,
my poy ; go to your quarters."
In spite of his self-control and sternness, a fugi-
tive tear rolled down the old man's nose, and
splashed the paper on which he was writing. He
was apparently much troubled. Did he believe
Jed had deserted ?
Jed's absence was for a few days the talk of the
camp. The theory that he had deserted gained
credence in the absence of any other reasonable one,
94 JED'S ADVENTURES.
but, knowing his stanch patriotism, I could not
beUeve it.
" Used to 'sociate with them rebs too much down
in South Carolina, I guess," said one. Still, with
all the gossip and guesses, the mystery remained
unsolved.
CHAPTER X.
BEFORE YORKTOWN.
"H^HERE'S a hole big enough to bmy two or
-^ three of ye," said a joker, belonging to a
party that we relieved in the work of digging rifle-
pits shortly after our arrival.
" What made that ? " curiously inquired one of
our number.
" Oh, a visitor who came from over there," re-
plied the joker, pointing towards the enemy's works.
Just then a flash and a puff of smoke were seen
on the mud heaps, as we called the enemy's works.
After a short interval, the sound of a heavy gun
was heard (as light travels faster than sound), and
then, hoarsely sputtering and hissing, yurn-y urn-
chug came a shell, making a similar hole in the earth,
and spattering the soil over us. Our boys called the
missile a nail-keg, then a camp-kettle. It ivas
about the size of these objects, but much more solid.
We soon became accustomed to them, and found
that, by watching, we could see them in the air,
and that the noise they made was often more ter-
rible than the execution they did.
Over a hundred thousand men of the Union
Army were now encamped before the enemy'g
95
96 JED'S ADVENTURES.
works at Yorktown. Here, where a skirmish or a
sortie might at any hour bring on a battle, the
children of the same men that conquered Cornwallis
were arrayed in deadly enmity against each other.
The land here rises from the York River
in a bluff, and forms a level plain in front of York-
town. The enemy's works before us consisted of
high earthworks, with wide deep ditches, the whole
surmounted by cannon. From our position we
could see them, in what ajDpeared to be a continuous
ridge of yellow earth, stretching along our front.
In reality they consisted of an intricate network of
forts, connected by breastworks, and built under
the supervision of accomplished engineers.
It rained almost continuously, and the miry,
sticky soil in our front was but little adapted for
the rapid movements of artillery or troops, so es-
sential to an assault.
A number of small streams ran across our front,
between us and the enemy. These were soon
bridged, and roads leading to them built, through
gulfs of mud, with trees cut the width of the road-
ways laid closely together. This had to be done ;
for, otherwise, there seemed no bottom to the
mud. This was called corduroying the roads ; a
labor the Army of the Potomac assumed wherever
it advanced in Virginia, and this in part was a com-
pensation to the country for the fences Ave burned.
The fires of an army will eat up an astonishing
number of rails, and the soldiers thought themselves
MPORE YORKfOWN. 97
fortunate in the fact that Southerners had made
such lavish use of them in building their fences.
All along our front our men were seen marching
through the rain with shovels and picks, to dig in-
trenchments. Heaps of mud were soon piled up
in our front, under the supervision of the engineers.
During the day, zigzag earthworks, in places ex-
posed to the fire from the enemy, were advanced
towards them in such a way that the soldiers
at work would not be exposed to danger. At
night these were connected by lines of mud heaps
running parallel with the enemy's works.
To one not acquainted with the nature of
their work, they would appear to be digging wide
and shallow ditches rather than breastworks. In
this manner rifle-pits four or five feet deep, and ex-
tending miles in length, rose on our front and grad-
ually approached to the enemy's works.
In this task we sometimes unearthed corroded
shot, lodged here eighty years before, during the
Revolution.
Our rifle-pits farthest in advance were less intri-
cate than those just in the rear of them, whereon
were mounted our heavy artillery, and where mag-
azines and bomb-proofs and traverses were con-
structed. The first were intended to shield in-
fantry formed for assault ; while from the second,
cannonades were to silence the enemy's guns, and
drive them if possible from their works.
Whatever may be said of the failure of the com-
98 mi)'S ADVEMTmES.
manding general to attack at this time, before these
offensive works were erected, it must be acknowl-
edged that similar attacks on fortified positions,
without such precautions, had been failures, and
often resulted disastrously to those making
them.
In these operations our company bore a conspicu-
ous part, as Captain Gruff was an accomplished
engineer, and had the confidence of the general
commanding the corps.
Jed's absence still remained a mystery, and the
old captain, when questioned, simply shook his head
and replied, '' Dere's a great many curious tings in
var, my poy."
During this time the enemy kept up an occasional
fh^e with their heavy guns, principally directed at
our working squads, the gunboats on the river, or
our canal boats at the mouth of the creek. Some-
times they attempted to fire at the balloon which
was sent up for the purpose of reconnoitring their
lines, and which was usually kept in a little depres-
sion of ground, in front of our camp. An annoying
fire came also at times from their sharpshooters
and pickets.
• We took our turn at picket duty, and most sol-
diers liked this, notwithstanding its greater dangers,
better than work with pickaxe and spade. Our
pickets were established just beyond a wood, in
an open field, where we had thrown up a slight
line of soil not over three feet high, behind which
BEFORE YORKTOWN. 99
we lay during the day, watching a similar line of
mud near us, in our front.
One night it Avas raining, and the advance pick-
ets were very uncomfortable.
" It rains all the time in this infernal country,"
growled one of our men.
"Well, I'm going to have a smoke, anyway,"
said Osgood, lighting a match on the dry part of
his trousers.
He was just applying the match to his pipe when
" crack," went a rifle from the enemy near us, and
the bowl and stem of his pipe were shivered in his
hand.
''Great gracious! where's that fellow?" said
Osgood.
" I saw the flash of that musket way up there,"
said another soldier, pointing towards the sky.
"He must be precious near us," growled Osgood
from behind the mud heap, where he had taken
shelter.
The experiment of lighting another match was
tried, when "crack," came another report, and a
bullet hissed unpleasantly near us. In the morn-
ing the mystery was solved. Near our line, per-
haps fifty yards distant, was the chimney-stack of a
ruined house. A rebel sharpshooter had climbed
up this chimney, and, knocking out a brick for a
loophole, had begun making us uncomfortable in a
very persevering manner.
One of our men was wounded while getting to
100 JED'S ADVENTURES.
his feet from the ground, and as we lay hugging
the earth before the low ridge of soil used for pro-
tection, we debated what was best to do.
Every time we showed any part of our persons
above this ridge, '-^ping !'' came a bullet near our
heads. If we fired at the chimney-stack, the sharp
report of that rebel rifle, and a thin line of blue
smoke, warned us to be careful.
" He's got the start of us, and no mistake," said
" Long John Haskell," our orderly sergeant.
" We've got to wait here till night, or two or
three of us will be shot, and I've got only two hard-
tack for rations," said another.
Captain Gruff, who was with us, viewed the sit-
uation at first with his usual phlegmatic compla-
cency, but finally got angry, for he could not lie
very flat, and this didn't agree with his ideas of
military dignity. His face was settling down into
an ominous frown, when it suddenly lit up, as if a
happy solution of our difficulty had occurred to
him.
" Mens, now mind vat I say. Dick," addressing
me, " stick your cap on your ramvrod, shust so,
and stick it up a leetle vays." (Here he illus-
trated by holding his cap a little above the para-
pet, and ^'-ping !'' came a minie bullet through it.)
'' Dere, Dick ; and ven dot rebel shoots next dime
all you mens runs to that schimney shust as fast
as you can, and surround it."
All being ready, the cap was stuck up on a ram-
imrwiiii
lill
<n
;¥aa;!!i!iiiiiiaii;iii:iBsi!;,.,;;;ffli'
BEFORE YORKTOWN' 101
rod, the rebel fired, and we made a rush upon the
chimney-stack. We were then too near for him
to fii^e down upon us. We called upon him to sur-
render, to which the only reply was a surly refusal.
Shot after shot was fired up the chimney, until down
tumbled the sharpshooter, dead, with a shot which
had struck the lower jaw and passed through the
head upwards. We were relieved from picket
shortly afterwards, and the incident became the talk
of the army.
Just as we reached the woods skirting the plain
on which the scene took place, we met one of our
sharpshooters, a Californian, with a heavy telescopic
rifle, and to him we told the occurrence.
" What kind of a rifle did that reb have ? " he
inquired.
One of the men had brought the rifle along with
us, and my attention was now directed to it for the
first time.
'' It's one of our improved Springfield rifles, and
no mistake," said the Californian.
Captain Gruff and myself had discovered another
surprising fact. It was Jed's rifle. His initials
were marked in ink on the but. That night my
heart was heavy at the thought of Jed's possible
fate.
In the morning I met Captain Gruff, and said,
" That was Jed's rifle we captured yesterday."
" Yes," assented the old man.
" I rubbed his initials off with my coat," said I.
10^ JED S ADVENTURES,
With a steadfast gaze into my face, he said, " I
dells you something, my poy : " and then, laying his
hand kindly on my shoulder, added, "Jed is all
vright.*' Then, hesitating a moment, as if afraid to
trust himself to speak further, he abruptly walked
away.
The finding of the rifle in the possession of
the rebel sharpshooter had not cleared up the mys-
tery of Jed's absence. There was constant refer-
ence made in the company to his disappearance.
Sergeant Weston, who did not like Jed, and took
every occasion to prejudice his comrades against
him, said one afternoon, while we were eating our
badly cooked rice and pork, " I knew Hoskins
would turn out badly. It's in the breed. His
father was as straight as a string, and belonged
to the church, at one time. Then he took to
drink "~
Here a hand on Weston's throat caused him to
stop and gasp. It was Captain Gruff, who had
come upon the group, and thus emphasized his
disapproval. As he relaxed his grasp around the
sergeant's throat he said, with an angry frown,
" You ton't know vat you are talking about, you
fool, you ! "
Meanwhile, the working details still labored in
the trenches, until we drew so near the enemy that
there was but a very short distance between our
pickets. By a tacit understanding, at least at our
part of the picket line, firing had in part ceased.
ni^PORE YORKTOWN. lOB
We were lying behind our mud heap, keeping
watch over a similar earthwork, when a voice from
'' a string of mud " said, —
"I say, Yanks!"
" What is it, Johnnie? " inquired v/e.
" I'll allow we'd like to stretch our legs over this
side, and if you'll give us a chance we'll give you
one."
" All right, rebs ! Fair play now ! No shooting ! "
and so we got to our feet, and began stretching
our legs, to get the cramp and rheumatism out of
them and our backs.
" Got any coffee to trade for backer, Yanks ? "
queried a reb.
" No, we are all out," we replied.
" I thought you Yanks had a powerful lot
of it.
A fellow came over here two weeks ago, toting
all his traps with liim, and he had a right smart of
coffee."
*' Deserted? " asked we.
" Yes, he knew a heap of South Carolina people."
" What regiment ? " we asked.
" Well, I reckon he belonged to your regiment ;
said he was tired and sick of yer dogoned onerary
army, an3^way. He was a riglit peart fellow ; said
his captain hadn't been good to him."
Here Captain Gruff came up with another officer,
who proved to be of Ingher rank.
Our men eagerly related the conversation.
104 jilD'!^ ADvSNTunn^,
" Do you think it was Private Hoskins ? " in-
quired one.
" No," said Captain Gruff : " that poy lofes me,
and lofes his country ; he vould nefer say I hadn't
been goot to him."
After arriving in camp I went to the captain
again, as I had a suspicion that he could set my
fears at rest regarding Jed.
" Vat you wish to say?" was his crisp interro-
gation.
" I wish to learn if you know where Private
Hoskins is ? " I replied, assuming the attitude and
language of a subordinate addi-essing a superior
ofBcer.
The old soldier, with more kindness in his tones
than was usual, replied, " I can't say vare he is, my
But in spite of his self-control he was evidently
much troubled. Had Jed then really deserted ?
The theory of his desertion was talked over,
but no definite conclusion was arrived at, and the
query "AVhere is Jed?" remained far a time unan-
swered, and to some suspicious souls the matter
was never satisfactorily explained.
It was now the first of May. We were on engi-
neer detail, and during the day the enemy had been
unusually active. They had fired their artillery
often, and our hundred-pound guns, near the York
River, had replied for the first time that day.
All our guns were now ready to open an encir-
BEFORE YORKTOWN. 105
cling and destructive fire on the Confederate
works.
During the night a fire seemed to liave broken
out inside the rebel lines. Before daylight they
began rapidly firing from their heavy guns. At
sunrise the picket on our front reported that the
pickets of the enemy had been withdrawn, and a
shout went up all along the ranks at the intelligence.
Men were hurried into line and were soon on the
march after the retreating enemy.
CHAPTER XI.
PURSUIT AKD BATTLE.
"TT was the 7th of May, when the Army of the
-*- Potomac moved out in pursuit of the foe.
The eagerness of huntsmen shone in their faces,
for many in our ranks believed that they had their
enemy " on the run " and were about to end the
war with one sharp and decisive conflict.
There was much apparent confusion. Back near
their old camping-ground, artillery men were try-
ing to move heavy siege guns over the miry roads.
These were at last abandoned, Avith their huge
muzzles pointing skyward like telescopes as if ex-
ploring in that direction for firmer roads.
Drivers of mules and horses attached to artillery,
baggage trains, ambulances, and pontoons, were
shouting and flourishing whips, and with fierce im-
precations urging forward their unwilling beasts.
Mules with feet braced firmly in the direction oppo-
site that in which they were required to advance,
maintained a masterly passiveness.
Contradictory orders had halted a division in the
road, over which another had orders to advance.
Torpedoes buried in front of the enemy's works
were exploded by marching columns, killing sev-
106
PURSUIT AND BATTLE. 107
eral horses and men. In consequence of these
explosions, exclamations of warning were heard
on every side. '' Do you see that stick ? " " Don't
touch that hat, there's a string tied to it with a
torpedo on the end I " Our brigade led the ad-
vance, marching at route step, and carrying their
arms at will. We were frequently halted for rest.
Clouds began to overspread the sky with the dark-
ness of an approaching storm. We had advanced
over our route three or four miles when we were
met by hatless and dismounted cavalrymen.
''Haiti where are you going?" cried Captain
Gruff.
" For re-enforcements ; the rebs are thicker than
hornets four or five miles back there."
" Veil, vat did you comes pack for, den ? " said
Captain Gruff sternly.
" Why, we rode right in among them before we
knew it ! It was j^'^Pi V^P-, pop., and then we lost
our horses and skedaddled ; there wan't anything
to stay for. Guess Ave'll go back with yer and see
the fun, though."
The spokesman was a six-footer who proved to
be an ex-lumberman from Maine, Avhom his com-
rades, in derision of his size, called " Sonny." The
squad, after a few minutes' conversation with our
captain, fell in line and marched forward with our
command.
Overcome with fatigue, we were halted late that
night near the roadside, and lay dowu in our blan-
108 JED'S ADVENTURES.
kets to sleep. A heavy rain came on during the
night to increase our discomfort. The rain had
also increased the weight of our clothing and knap-
sacks, and cooled our ardor for the chase.
The road over which we now advanced had been
cut through a dense wood which deepened the
gloom. " The rebs are just ahead there," said the
tall cavalryman, who acted as guide. As we closed
up our column and advanced without encountering
them, we began to say, " Guess they won't wait.'*
"Got business in Richmond." "They are like
the bird that wouldn't wait while the paralyzing
salt was put on its tail," when the quick crach,
crack of musketry ahead showed that our skir-
mishers had already encountered those of the
enemy. Cooks, sutlers, chaplains, and officers'
horses were speedily sent to the rear, and the bri-
gade was drawn up in line of battle.
There was a mass of felled timber encumbering
an open plain half a mile wide on our front. Be-
yond this we could distinguish dimly through the
pouring rain, the yellow mud heaps of the enemy's
earthworks. The rain ceased for a while, and we
could plainly see Fort Magruder before us.
" There's a white flag on that fort," said one of
our men. Captain Gruff gravely examined it
through his field-glass and said, —
" Dot is a faded out flag, not a vite flag of
truce."
" In other words, their colors run," jocosely said
PURSUIT AND BATTLE, 109
the colonel, who had also been examining them
through his glass.
The enemy's heavy guns opened fire on our lines,
and their shot ploughed up the ground and crashed
among the fallen trees in our front, and cut away
the branches of the trees in the wood, on the edge
of which we were aligned. We were deployed
near the Hampton road commanded by the guns
of Fort Magruder. The mist and rain prevented
the Confederate artillery from getting our position
for a while, when the rattle of a battery's wheels
gave them our range. Whiz ! hang ! chug ! came
shot and shell with deadly precision, striking the
guns, killing some of the gunners, and driving
others from their places. Volunteers soon manned
these pieces again, and the guns of the fort were
for a time silenced.
While here in line, during an ominous silence,
we could see large bodies of the enemy's infantry
stealthily advancing through the ravines which
traversed the plain on our front. Our lines were
weakened by sending a large part of our force to
support our left, menaced by this movement of the
enemy.
The Confederates shortl}^ after made an attack,
and four pieces of our artillery which were without
infantiy support were captured. The Confeder-
ates, with the long-di*awn-out " Yi^ yi,, y-i-i-ir were
advancing I Captain Gruff, whom the men had
always thought needlessly fussy, right dressed our
110 JED'S ADVENTURES.
company amid the yell of the enemy and the hum
of bullets, with the same minute care as if on drill
or dress parade.
'' By heavens I " said one of our men admiringly,
"the old captain don't mind bullets."
" He seems to like 'em," said a second.
We were advanced in line while the enemy came
on, and shot began to strike around us like the pat-
tering of raindrops among forest leaves. The
sharp ping and zip of the round and minie bullets
whispered death to our ranks. If anything will
take the military starch out of a man, it is rain and
mud during a fight.
Near me, as we advanced, was the tall cavalry-
man I've mentioned as " Sonny," and following
beliind him, trailing his musket, was a little tliin
fellow not over eighteen years old, loudly crying.
'•' What are you crying about ? " gruffly asked
Sonny, in tones so deep that they seemed to come
from his coat-tails.
" My knees are weak, and I'm scared," was an-
swered, in a piping treble voice.
"Who in thunder ain't? " said Sonny, in his most
tremendous bass.
Our boys laughed full as loudly as they would
had they not recognized the truth of the assumption.
We were halted again, right dressed, and opened
fire ; the rattle of ramrods in muskets, and the
steady roll of musketry, had a curious sound when
combined. Our men began to fall. One of our
PURSUIT AND BATTLE. Ill
men who was shot, before falling, sighted and fired
his musket, then fell dead at our feet.
Above the din was heard the voice of Captain
Gruff from his place in the rear, saying, " Steady,
mens I Steady I " Wounded men fell out of the
line, or were carried away. We were outnumbered,
and began to give ground. The colonel and adju-
tant were wounded, and Captain Gruff, in virtue
of seniority of rank, assumed command. He halted
and aligned the men, and coolly walked in front
of them while the rebels came on.
We were out of ammunition, and a squad had
been detailed to take it from the cartridge-boxes
of our dead and wounded.
Bayonets were fixed to repel a possible charge.
Many of our officers were killed and wounded in
the brigade, and the men were getting disheartened
and began to fall back. Captain Gruff was re-
forming them, when an officer on a white horse
stopped in their midst, and said, in an indescribable
tone of command and coolness, " Men, you must
hold your ground."
The men recognized their commander, General
Hooker, and with a cheer faced towards the enemy,
while Captain Gruff aligned them once more.
The general watched this proceeding under a heavy
fire from musketry and artillery, then, nodding to-
wards Captain Gruff, said to an aid, '' Thaf s a cool
old soldier," and rode away down the left of the
line.
112 JED'S ADVENTURES.
There now succeeded a lull in the conflict.
" Hist ! there's a line of men moving near us,"
said Orderly John in a whisper. Through an open-
ing in the branches near we could see a party of
men stealthily moving parallel to our own force,
trailing their arms. Our men instinctively brought
their muskets to an aim. '^ Don't fire. They've
got on blue overcoats. They are some of our own
men."
" Ready ! Don't you see their gray hats ? " said
Captain Gruff, in an undertone.
" There's a white flag," said a lieutenant ; and he
sprang forward with hand extended to receive it,
when he was shot dead.
" Fire I " came the command, and a line of fire
sprang from the muzzles of our muskets with deadly
effect. In an instant, before the blue smoke of this
volley had drifted away, an exclamation of " See that
man on horseback ! " was heard. I looked, and saw
the man in the gray uniform of a Confederate officer,
not half a dozen yards from us, riding towards our
line with a white handkerchief on a sword. There
was something indescribably familiar in his form
and manner. A dozen muskets were brought to a
deadly aim, when Captain Gruff beat down their
muskets with his sword, and then, turning, ad-
vanced to meet the horseman. An exclamation of
astonishment broke from his lips as the officer
handed him a packet, spoke a few words in an
undertone, and rode away towards the enemy again.
"General Hooker was sitting on his horse in the rain.
— Page 113.
PURSUIT AND BATTLE. 113
"Corporal Nickerson," cried the captain, with
apparent agitation.
" Here, sir," I responded, stepping out from the
line.
'^ Take this packet at once to General Hooker,
down the left. It's very important."
A horse was brought up, which I mounted, and
rode down the left of the line. I found General
Hooker, and as I handed him the packet I glanced
at the writing on it. It was Jed's handwriting.
At once there came to me the conviction that the
officer who rode to our lines in the face of so much
danger was Jed.
General Hooker was sitting on his horse in the
rain. He hastily scanned the contents of the
packet, thrust one of the papers into his pocket,
wrote a few words on one of the folded papers,
and, glancing at me, said, " I have no orderly or
staff officer present that I can spare. Please take
these papers to General McClellan."
I was about to start w^hen he said, " Wait," then,
scrawling a few lines, handed me a pass. It read,
" Pass bearer with important despatches to Gene-
ral McClellan's Hd. Qurs. — Jos. Hooker, Brig.-
Gen."
At last, after an hour's ride over the muddy road
and through the rain, I found General McClellan's
headquarters. I saluted a young-looking man,
undersized, with a reddish beard and sandy hair,
seated at a pine table. It was McClellan. He
114 JED'S ADVENTURES.
took the package from my hand, and was soon pro-
foundly absorbed in its contents. I could see that
some of the papers were maps or plans. He fin-
ished reading them, then looked up and began
questioning me as to how they came to be in my
possession. I described the scene I have already
given to the reader. " Well done ! " he ejaculated.
Just then a thin old man of foreign aspect came
in, whom I recognized as the Prince cle Joinville,
at that time on McClellan's staff. He conversed
in French with the general a few minutes, then,
turning to the table, wrote me a pass and said,
"Return to General Hooker, and, with my com-
pliments, give him this letter. Wait a moment; "
then, calling to an orderly, said, " Give this man
some hot coffee."
I was soon ready for the saddle, and the strong
horse I rode took me speedily to the front. I was
conducted to General Hooker. The general looked
over the note, and turning to a one-armed officer
at his side said impatiently, " General McClellan
can't understand that we are fighting a battle and
not a skirmish." Then wheeling his horse, and
saying to the one-armed officer, " There comes the
head of your column," rode down the line, — the
manliest and most soldierly figure I ever saw on a
field of battle.
I reported to Captain Gruff again, and found the
regiment just retiring to the woods behind a line
of fresh men which had arrived as re-enforcements.
PURSUIT AND BATTLE, 115
In a moment there was a continuous roar of
musketry, and the heavy boom of cannon in our
front. " Just listen to that," exclaimed Sutherland,
" Kearney's men are going in I " In a few moments
we heard a cheer which showed that the enemy
were falling back and that the Union advance was
successful.
After the fighting was over, the bands came up
and began playing patriotic airs. Hancock had
meanwhile flanked the enemy's position, and the
Confederates had no choice but to retreat.
Our men were soon cooking their coffee and
commenting on the occurrences of the day. Cap-
tain Gruff, who before the fight had not be en much
liked by the men, was now very popular.
" Did you ever see anything like our old captain,
squinting along the ranks to see if there was a but-
ton out of line during the fight ? "
" He's a brick ! " said Orderly John, the color of
whose hair would better justify the cognomen he
applied to Captain Gruff.
" Yes, gilt-edged," said Osgood the cook, who
was liberal with slang.
" I call him an hout and houter," said an English
soldier.
The old soldier had proved his ability and brave-
ry; and thenceforward his men were willing to
follow him to the death, because they believed that
he " knew his business,'' as they expressed it, and
wasn't afraid.
116 JED'S ADVENTURES.
The next morning the sun shone brightly on the
ensanguined field. The enemy had abandoned the
works on our front during the night, and had
retreated.
The first battle of the Peninsular Campaign had
been fought with a loss of 1,575 men of our division
and of these 338 were killed. Detachments were
sent out to bury the dead, and the abatis of fallen
trees was, for sanitary reasons, set on fire and con-
sumed.
The plain on our front, as we marched on to
Williamsburg, was plentifully sprinkled with Union
and Confederate graves.
As we passed through the town, we found the
yellow flags of the Confederate hospitals still float-
ing over "William and Mary's" College, while the
marble slabs in a graveyard were yet red with
blood where they had been used as amputating
tables by the Confederates.
CHAPTER XII.
MARCHING ON.
AS we resumed our march the soldiers talked
over the incidents of the battle just fought.
It is doubtful, however, if the battle was so con-
stant a topic of conversation in our ranks as it was
around the home firesides. Neither did our men,
even then, discuss it with the avidity they did
other topics, such as how to cook the pigs (if they
could be caught), which they with grave humor
declared were hindering the march of the army.
Give a soldier plenty to eat and a good camping-
place and rest and he will soon forget the hardship
and perils of battle.
The value of rebel fractional currency, which
we received in change for greenbacks from the
people of that region, was also an interesting
theme for discussion and conjecture. It was seri-
ously believed by some (and questioned by others),
that it could be used as money upon reaching
Richmond.
The weather soon became very warm, and the
roads were always either muddy or dusty. In all
my campaigning in Virginia, between these two
extremes there seemed no pleasant medium. The
117
118 JED'S ADVENTURES.
wonderful ability of a Virginia road to yield the
stickiest of mud that ever adhered to an army
shoe one day, and blinding dust the next, was one
of the constant miracles of the country.
With light hearts and high hopes of speedily
overtaking and "gobbling" the rebel hosts, the
army marched on, skirmishing with the pigs which
ran at large, and converting the leaf tobacco found
in barns and sheds to its own use.
Later on, we better understood the fleetness of
foot, both of the enemy and of wandering Virginia
pigs, and were less sanguine of success while in
pursuit of either. Our marches up the Peninsula
were short, but long enough when measured by the
depth of the mud and length of the roads to cause
the then comparatively raw soldiers of the army to
cast away their clothing, until blankets, boots, over-
coats, and soldiers' garments of every description
actually littered the roads and fields.
We discussed the subjects usual to the same
number of men at home ; and while our views di-
verged as to what should be done with the Con-
federacy when we " bagged " it, yet there was little
doubt among us that the Confederate army would
soon be ours.
We arrived at " White House Landing," May
22, 1862. The evening of our arrival was dark
and stormy, but when morning dawned the sky
was lit up with the rosy hues of the coming sun,
promising a beautiful day.
MARCHING ON. 119
That morning, on arousing myself, I beheld the
novel sight of a slumbering army compactly en-
camped. A green and level plain half a mile or
more broad, whitened with tents and baggage
wagons, and set in a fringe of surrounding green
woods, lay between our encampment and the Pa-
munky River, where transports with supplies for
the army had arrived. Soon the encampment be-
gan to show signs of awakening life. The smoke
from numerous cooking fires curled up from among
the tents, and drifted lightly away ; the confused
hum of voices began to be heard, the sharp tones
of command, the roll call and its responses.
Ere long tents were struck ; blue lines of infan-
try were aligned in martial order, and with bur-
nished arms flashing in the sunlight, the long
columns began their march once more. Then were
heard the rattle of the wheels of army vehicles,
the sharp crack of the mule driver's whip, and the
defiant hee-haw of the mules, as if in reply.
The roads were now filled with marching col-
umns, trains of artillery and pontoons and white-
topped baggage wagons, with an occasional group
of ambulances. There was no pride of display ; the
serviceable qualities of getting through the treacle-
like mud, for the time seemed only uppermost. Yet
it was the largest and best disciplined army which
up to that time had trodden the soil of America ; as
great in all its trials and reverses, as when, at last,
it overthrew its brave and martial antagonist.
120 JED'S ADVENTURES.
In less than another week, the army was brought
to a halt on the banks of the narrow, swamj)-fringed
Chickahominy. This river is a sluggish milL
stream which here describes a quarter circle, around
and within eight to ten miles of Richmond. The
corps of Porter and Franklin were held on the
east of this river, while Keyes and Heintzelman
were established upon its right banks. Our divi-
sion went into camp on the Williamsburg road
guarding the approaches to White Oak Swamp.
Shortly after going into camp at this place, I was
ordered to report to the colonel of my regiment. As
I entered his quarters, I found that Captain Gruff
had preceded me. He took no notice of me — a
common habit with him — and I saluted the colonel
and stood at '' attention " to receive his orders.
'' I have received an order to detail a man to
serve as a mounted orderly at Hooker's headquar-
ters. Would you like the detail. Corporal Nick-
erson ? " asked the colonel.
I glanced at Captain Gruff, l^ut his face Avore
what one of our company boys called a '' cast-iron
expression," or rather lack of expression, and a
stranger seeing him would not have imagined he
had the slightest interest in the matter proposed.
This assumed want of interest on the part of my
captain nettled me into replying, '' Am I obliged
to accept this detail ? "
"There is no compulsion," re^^lied the colonel
with military conciseness.
MARCHING ON. 121
" Then I will remain with my company, and do
my duty as a soldier," I replied respectfully.
Captain Gruff's face began to lose its stolidity,
and he stroked and twisted his goatee nervously,
as if (as Jed was accustomed to say) he was milk-
ing for ideas.
" Don't pe a fool, Dick ! " he exclaimed explo-
sively. "My company is the vorst place in the
army for you ! "
" Why so? " I inquired.
" If I promotes you, the rest of mine regiment
pe jealous and say, ' Oh veil, dot fellow he knew
the captain pefore the war, and of course he recom-
mends him for promotion ! He's vone of the cap-
tain's pets.' You'd petter take this chance, Dick,"
said the old soldier, rising and persuasively laying
his hand on my shoulder.
I still hesitated when Colonel Baker said, " The
captain is right, promotion goes by favor as well
as merit, and if you gain General Hooker's favor he
may promote you in this or some other regiment."
" When Jed comes back to the regiment I want
to be with Jed," I persisted.
" Don't bodder your head mit Jed's affairs ; Jed
is doing veil enough " — here the captain hesitated
as if he had said too much.
As I had been secretly angry with Captain Gruff
because of my suspicion that he was the cause of
Jed's absence, I answered, looking him steadily
and respectfully in the face, — ■
122 JED'S ADVENTURES.
" I am afraid Jed is 7iot well enough, but is in a
dangerous service, and that you have been the
cause of his being in that service."
The shot told! The captain's face, relaxing
from its usual immovability, turned first red and
then to a deadly pallor. He looked towards the
colonel, who meanwhile had lit a cigar, and with
his wounded arm on the camp table was com-
placently smoking. Finally the old soldier sat
down ; began hurriedly to fill his pij)e, while his
eyes assumed a look of abstraction.
'•'• What are you going to say to that, captain ? "
said Colonel Baker quizzically.
Thus addressed, with his face relaxed from its
grim rigidity, he replied, addressing me rather than
his superior, —
" Dick ! you know ! No ! no one knows but Got
how I lofes Jed. I lofes him — better than mine
life — but the place for a brave man to pe, is where
he can pest serve his country."
The husky, broken tones of my captain, more
than his words, showed his deep emotion.
"You had better accept. Corporal Nickerson.
Positions such as I have offered you don't go a-beg-
ging. They are usually given to cavalrymen, not
to infantry soldiers. I trust you will report to
General Hooker for duty at once," said Colonel
Baker.
I bowed my assent, and thanked him for his
interest. Captain Gruff's face resumed its compos-
MARCHING ON. 123
ure as he lit his pipe, and with one eye on that,
glancing occasionally at me, said between whiffs in
his gruffest tones, " Do your tuty, Dick, and if I
hears from Jed, I lets you know."
One of my earliest passions was a love for horses,
and I had never neglected an opportunity for rid-
ing or driving one. I was a good rider, and it was
a vicious animal indeed that I could not manage.
Upon arriving at General Hooker's headquarters
I was assigned to duty, and a cream-colored ^Nlexi-
can pony was given me for a saddle-horse. When
I first mounted her there was an exchange of glances
around headquarters which made me suspicious
that she had some qualities that were not pleasant
ones. I mounted, gave her the spur, and she went
like the wind, and I thought her the easiest-going
horse I had ever ridden. I had almost concluded
that the little mustang was perfect, when, with
wonderful quickness, she suddenly ploughed her
fore-feet into the dust and threw up her heels so as
almost to stand on her head. I clung tenaciously
to her mane, and was luckily not dismounted. I
then urged her on with spur and whip, fully deter-
mined to conquer her. For a half-hour she tried
every expedient known to a vicious horse, includ-
ing bucking, to dismount me, without success ; and
then, as if satisfied with her endeavors, placidly re-
signed herself to my direction, and thenceforward
I had no trouble with her. A more intelligent,
docile creature I never knew. She would come at
124 JED'S ADVENTURES.
my whistle like a dog, and follow me at the snap
of my thumb and finger. I afterwards learned it
had been a standing joke at headquarters to loan
her to olhcers and others visiting the camp, and
that in most cases she had dismounted those who
had tried to ride her.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN THE SADDLE.
WE arrived on the line of the Chickahominy
about the 20th of May, and it was on the
25th that I began my duties as a mounted orderly.
Thenceforward I was riding with communications
and orders to various parts of the line, and was
twice at McClellan's headquarters during the
week succeeding. The Chickahominy (or that por-
tion whose banks were occupied by the Union army)
flows through a belt of swamp land, forming, in
places, two or more streams, with border-lands so
level arid low that a rise of the stream by a few
inches causes the overflow of a large area of its
margin.
On these occasional visits to the west side of the
river I had observed the engineers throwing out
bridges, in order to afford easy communication be-
tween the divided wings of the army. At one
place I observed a bridge built on canvas boats,
wliile near the centre of the line a bridge of ordi-
nary pontoons or scows spanned the narrow stream.
This was called Duane's bridge, and was near Mc-
Clellan's headquarters at Gaines' Mills. At still
another place a bridge of logs, lashed to stumps
125
126 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and suspended from the overhanging limbs of
trees, Avas being constructed. This was afterwards
known as Sumner's bridge.
On the night of the 30th of May there occurred
a terrific tempest, during which the thunder re-
sembled an artillery engagement. The fall of rain
was so prodigious that it was like a supplementary
deluge, and the soldiers facetiously declared that
the commanding general was about to add swim-
ming lessons and evolutions on stilts to their regu-
lar drill.
Early on the morning following, while it was
still raining, I was sent with communications to
the west side of the Chickahominy. Upon my arri-
val at the river I found the banks overflowed in
every direction. Sumner's lower bridge, where I
had intended to make a crossing, had been swept
away by the freshet, and but fragments of it re-
mained.
As it was impossible to cross here; I rode to the
upper bridge, where, though its corduroy approaches
were in part submerged, and only held in position
by being tied to the stumps of trees, the portion
overhanging the stream was still in place, though
of doubtful stanchness. Here I finally crossed,
and, riding to the right centre of the line, delivered
my message.
At the Duane bridge, near the commanding gen-
eral's headquarters, the narrow, sluggish stream of
yesterday was wide and rapid, and the bridge of
IN THE SADDLE. 127
boats swung midway in the rushing current. The
river was still rising.
It was a little after ten o'clock that morning,
while on my way back, that I heard the heavy boom
of cannon in the direction of Fair Oaks.
A few words here are needed in explanation.
The division of McClellan's army on a treacherous
stream was in part a necessity of its position. Its
line of manoeuvre against Richmond was broken
by the Chickahominy, which therefore had to be
crossed. A heavy force was hence necessary to
protect its communications with its base of opera-
tions on the Pamunky River.
The position of the army (with a line of commu-
nication almost in prolongation of its front of ope-
rations) made inaction perilous, as it was exposed
to attack in detail ; that is, one part was in danger
of being overwhelmed before the other could come
to its assistance.
The able Confederate general who commanded
the opposing army was not a man to neglect such
an opportunity.
At this time Casey's division was near Fair Oaks,
with the position nearest the enemy strengthened
by a redoubt and rifle pits. This was held by
Nagle's brigade, supported by a brigade from Gen-
eral Couch's division.
Nagle's men, with their arms stacked, were work-
ing in the rain and mud, strengthening these de-
fences, On this exposed force fell the first fury
128 JED'S ADVENTURES.
of the attack, a little after ten o'clock that morn-
ing. The sharp, quick " Crack! snap ! crack!'' of
rifles in their front first told that the picket line
was attacked. The men engaged in tlie work of
intrenching, thus warned, sprang to their arms,
none too soon. The videttes were quickly driven
back to the rifle pits and redoubts.
A heavy force of Confederates made an attack
in front, while another gained their flank, and with
a galling fire enfiladed their line. Its defenders
fell back disorganized, and the redoubt was cap-
tured. Our men now slowly retreated (stub-
bornly contesting each step) on General Couch's
position at Seven Pines.
It was the artillery firing of this fight which I had
heard Avhile riding forward on my return from the
Chickahominy. After my return I was allowed
but a short interval of rest, when I was ordered to
carry a message to General Casey. As I rode to-
wards Richmond I began to hear with greater dis-
tinctness the quick, sharp crackling, and the long,
continuous roar of musketry.
As I rode forward on the muddy Williamsburg
road the sound of battle came nearer and nearer,
as if the contest was drifting southwards, towards
Couch's position. I had now taken a road leading
to the right from the Williamsburg road, and soon
began to meet the chaff of the fight (its skulkers
and cowards and disheartened ones), which is
blown to the rear of a fight by the fierce Avhisper
m THE SADDLE. m
of bullets. With tlie chaff also came some of that
better element, its wounded. Many others had ap-
parently escaped from their duties at the front
under pretence of caring for injured comrades.
These wounded ones, hurt often by the rough
hurry of their conductors, were groaning or cry-
ing out piteously. The heads and limbs of some
were bandaged with blood-stained handkerchiefs or
fragments of garments.
" Don't go up there," called out a wounded man
to me. " Our boys are cut all to j)ieces. The rebs
are giving them Jessie."
" The whole army is skedaddling," said another.
I returned some careless answer to these peoj^le,
and rode on, as there did not seem any immediate
danger ; and, besides, I had an official envelope in
my belt for delivery.
I began now to meet more and more evidences of
a conflict close at hand. Wounded men predomi-
nated in the current of humanity drifting past me.
Here and there galloped a wounded, riderless horse,
and in one instance a frantic wounded one was
dragging fragments of an artillery carriage.
Before me a dense bank of smoke clung close to
the ground, and from it there came the sounds of
musketry, like bunches of Chinese crackers magni-
fied hundreds of times ; the hoarse spluttering and
shrieking of shells, and jarring detonations of
artillery.
" Where shall I find General Casey ? " I inquired
130 JED'S AbVENTUM^.
of a wounded and liatless artilleryman, begrimed
with powder.
" Don't know. If lie's up to snuff, guess the old
man is taking his nooning somewhere in the woods,"
was the saucy and jocose reply.
Some of the wounded were carried in blankets,
which, with use of muskets, were converted into
stretchers. Others, with characteristic ingenuity,
had extemporized crutches. One of them limped
towards me with a reversed musket for a crutch,
into the muzzle of which he had fixed a round stick
to bring it to the required length. He was a tall,
rusty fellow in a cavalryman's suit, and so be-
grimed with powder, dirt, and blood that I did not
recognize him until he spoke, in a howl of bass so
deep as to startle me. It was my quondam acquaint-
ance, "Sonny," of Williamsburg.
"You're in bad luck. Sonny. Are you hurt
much ? " I inquired.
" GoU darn it, yes ! lost my horse again, and
am bleeding like a pig. And see here," removing
his hat, and showing a furrow ploughed by a bullet
across his scalp.
I dismounted, bandaged his wounds, and advised
him to get to the rear for surgical aid before they
stiffened.
Prompted by information I had just received
from " Sonny," I turned off on a road leading farther
to the left to find General Casey and deliver my
message. Here I was riding near the railroad, and
m THE SADDLE. 131
encountered fewer wounded men than before. Per-
ceiving a party of men behind a fence along which
grew a line of bushes and trees, I was just about
to inquire for General Casey's headquarters, when
there came the order, " Halt ! " As I reined in my
horse I saw my mistake. It was a group of Con-
federate infantry, and only one mounted man in
the party. I had not much time for reflection, but
at such a moment thought travels quickly.
"Who comes there?"
" An orderly with despatches," I re^^lied.
" For whom? " came the inquiry.
" General Magruder," I replied, mentioning the
name of the only Confederate general that occurred
to me at that instant.
" Let me see your despatches ! " said the officer.
With my left hand I held towards him the long
official envelope. One of them climbed the fence,
when with my right hand I drew my revolver,
fired, wheeled, and lying close to the neck of my
horse, whistled and gave her free rein, then swung
myself over on the other side from my foes, clinging
to her with feet and hands, when, as I had antici-
pated, crack ! crack ! came the sharp report of
muskets and zip ! ping ! the bullets whispered
around my ears. Near me was a field which was
on the verge of a wood. My chance of escaping
depended on my reaching this shelter. ^ly horse
seemed to understand this, for she kept on without
my guidance. I gave one glance behind ; a man
132 JED'S ADVENfUkE^.
mounted on a powerful gray horse was following-
after me. I was nearing the fence over which I
must go to reach the protecting shelter. I assumed
an erect attitude, and put my horse directly at the
fence, for my safety depended on her ability to
clear it. If she failed, I must fight it out with the
" Johnnie " who was following. She cleared the
fence ! I was near the woods, — and I looked back.
The rebel's horse refused the fence and I was saved.
He fired at me from too great a distance, and I
could hear him swearing at his horse. I wheeled,
and shouted, " Holloa, Johnnie ! "
Reaching the protection of the woods I dis-
mounted, examined my mare, and to my great sat-
isfaction found her unharmed. I led her throuofh
the tangled undergrowth until we reached a path
which led beyond danger. This done, I took new
directions and was soon again near the uproar of
the battle and in the vicinity of the Union lines. I
met a mounted officer.
'•'- Where is General Casey ? " I inquired.
" Right over there," he replied.
In a stump lot where the smoke of battle hung
near the ground, I found a group of officers, and
among these one with the stars of a general on his
shoulder-straps.
" I'm an orderly with a letter for General Casey,"
I said, as I approached the group.
"I am General Casey," said the gray-headed
officer with the stars.
tN THE SADDLE, ISS
I handed him the sealed envelope. He read it
and began to write an answer, when zip^ zm^ bang !
the enemy began dropping shell over the group,
and so near as to produce a stampede.
" They've got our range ; drive a little to the
left," said an officer.
While the group was re-assembling, the smoke,
the shouts and cheers, and firing of musketry broke
out with great fury on our front.
" They are driving us again ! " remarked an
officer.
" Is your horse fresh ? " inquired the general of
me. I explained that I had been on the road since
six o'clock in the morning.
"We have already sent a message to General
Heintzelman," said General Casey, dismissing me.
" You can rest your horse before returning."
General Casey, on whom the attack had thus far
fallen, finding himself hard pushed had sent to Gen-
eral Heintzelman, who commanded the left wing
of the army, for aid.
The troops had now been rallied, and at the time
I arrived. Couch's troops and the wreck of Casey's
division were struggling against great odds to
hold their own.
It was past four o'clock, and I was just mounted
to return, when a loud cheer came from a column
marching to the scene of conffict. It came from a
brigade of Kearney's men, commanded by Berry.
This brigade went into the woods on the left, where
134 JED'S ADVENTURES.
their rifles commanded a part of the works aban-
doned % Casey.
" We can hold them now," said an officer confi-
dently when Berry's men arrived.
It will be remembered that Sumner, on hearing
the firing, had crossed the frail bridge Avhich I have
elsewhere mentioned, and had marched through
rain and mud to the scene of the conflict. He
arrived at an opportune moment. As Moreau
chained victory to the standards of the French by
flying to the assistance of Napoleon when hard
pressed by the Austrians, so brave Sumner, by this
act of duty, brought victory to the Union army
struggling at Seven Pines against outnumbering
foes.
On his arrival, five of his regiments charged on
the enemy in the woods and drove them back in
confusion. The lost ground was recovered, and
the shattered divisions took up their old positions
at Fair Oaks on the following day.
I was returning to the Williamsburg road when
I came upon a group of wounded men cooking in a
ravine. A camp-kettle of beans, held by a cross-
piece resting on two sticks' set in the ground, was
jubilantly bubbling over a fire. Two tin drinking-
cups, in which coffee was being made, were on the
coals. One soldier was frying some bacon, while
another was engaged in preparing a lean chicken
which he had " procured," as he termed it, the
day before the fight.
IN THE SADDLE. 135
'' What men are you? " I inquired.
" I belong to Company K, — tli Mass.," said the
one who seemed to be chief cook and chief
growler.
"Quite a fight goin' on," drawled the soldier
with the chicken. His trousers-leg was half gone,
and the bloody bandages around his limbs showed
the nature of his Avounds.
" That ain't agoin' to spoil my appetite," said
the chief growler, whose wound was in his head,
and whose ears stood out combatively.
" If the rebs come on to us they'll catch it, if I
have to throw this 'bean hod * at 'em."
" Have some coffee ? " said another, a little fellow,
wounded in the hand.
I was very hungry, and the idea of dining with
the party did not strike me unfavorably. I dis-
mounted, and was drinking some coffee, and munch-
ing hard-tack with a piece of fried bacon for a sand-
wich, when an upioar of musketry broke out in
some scrub-oaks on the right of the ravine. The
chief cook and growler crept on all-fours to the
summit of the little knoll (behind which we were
sheltered) to view the situation.
" What do yer see up there? " inquired my com-
rade of the chicken.
His answer was a howl from the chief cook, who
came rolling over and over down the hill, with a
bleeding ear. Zip! zip! ping! piny! came the
bullets.
136 JED'S ADVEl^fUkn^.
" Darn it ! can't some of ye go up thar and pep-
per 'em out of it?" said the chief cook, with tears
in his eyes.
No one accepted the offer. The soldier with the
chicken took but little notice apparently of these
circumstances, but, with the forepiece of his forage
cap pointing skyward at right angles, was intently
occupied with his chicken.
The cook had seized a musket to " pepper " the
intruders, when a bullet from a concealed enemy
tapped the camp-kettle just below the water line.
The chief cook, forgetting his kindly intentions
towards the enemy in the scrub-oaks, exclaiming,
" Let us scoot ! " seized his pet kettle of beans, and
fled, followed with more or less celerity by the
soldiers with the coffee, the soldier with the
hen, the soldier with the frying-pan, and, not
last, the soldier with the horse. In fact the
whole line ''advanced backwards," as the chief
cook and growler afterwards said in describing
the retreat.
Starting out once more from a base of safety,
accompanied by my comrade with the hen, mounted
on the horse, which T led, I once more reported at
headquarters. I was surprised to find General
Grover, with his brigade, holding the position ; while
General Hooker, with the 2d and 3d brigades, had
marched to the battle-field, leaving with General
Grover these characteristic instructions: "Hold
your position at all hazards."
IN THE SADDLE. 137
After having procured surgical aid for my young
friend with the hen, who proved to be Henry Grace,
a soldier of my own division, I lay down, listening
to the dull reverberation of the conflict, which
gradually died away as darkness came on.
CHAPTER XIV.
!
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER.
IDEFORE leaving camp the next morning, I
-^— ^ visited Henry Grace, whose coolness the day
previous had greatly impressed me.
I found the surgeon with him, probing for a
bullet. Grace was half reclining, watching the op-
eration as if a mere spectator instead of a patient.
The probing must have been painful, but his almost
girlish face gave no indication of it. As I came to
him, his face lit up with a half-humorous expres-
sion, as he said in his high-pitched nasal drawl, —
" The doctor has got more curiosity about this
bullet's track than I have" — and just then his
face grew a trifle paler, as if the doctor had touched
a tender spot.
" There ! " said the doctor, triumphantly holding
up a flattened bullet as a result of his researches.
"Is that all ? " inquired Grace.
" Well, just a bandage and cold water dressing
will do for a time. Here, Quinn," addressing his
attendant, " put a bandage on this leg," and then
gathering up a formidable array of instruments,
including saws, the surgeon withdrew.
^' Ye's lucky, me bye I " said the Irish helper to
1?.6
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER. 139
Grace, " sure some of thim gintlemen of the pur-
farsion would a sawed the leg off of ye instead of
probing it ! "
"You surely don't think they'd cut a leg off
needlessly, Pat? " I inquired.
"Sure it's not for me to criticise," replied Quinn,
" but it's the divil's own habit these gintlemen are
getting of cutting off legs instead of curing thim.
It was sax good legs I threw into a trench yes-
terday."
" Stop that blathering and don't wind the band-
age so tight ! " interrupted Grace, in a tone that
was cutting in its iciness, and showed he could
repel familiarity, notwithstanding his easy-going
good-natured manner.
After a few moments' conversation with Grace,
I took my leave.
On my arrival at Fair Oaks again I found our
brigade occupying an advanced position. The rebel
army had mostly withdrawn to the defence of Rich-
mond, and General Johnson, its commander, had
been wounded during the battle.
As I rode up, heavy skirmisliing was going on
with their rearguard, which in withdivawing had
accidentally become entangled with a portion of
Sumner's line.
The next day our army re-occupied its old posi-
tion, only our division had exchanged places ^Yii\\
that previously occupied by Casey's men. In these
intrenchments, and around the two-storied, square,
140 JED'S ADVENTURES.
box-like " twin houses," where the battle had surged,
there were vivid reminders of the fight.
The dead were not yet all buried. Battery horses
encumbered the field, while the trees, fences, tents,
camp-kettles, and cracker-boxes showed the marks
of the bullets. Scattered over the ground were
pieces of harness, broken muskets, and all the debris
of a battle-Avrecked camp. The enemy's dead in
the surrounding swamps, where they could not be
reached, were already defiling the air.
The process of clearing the battle-field began at
once. Rails and brush were heaped over the dead
horses and set on fii'e, the dead were buried, and
once more the field resumed its ordinary appear-
ance, and the army its regular routine of duties.
For several days succeeding, it rained as though
a deluge was impending, and a period of suffocat-
ing heat ensued. The swamj)s and stagnant pools
threw off exhalations of miasma, prolific of disease
and death.
Constant skirmishes, meanwhile, occurred on our
outposts. A general conflict at times seemed so
imminent that on one day the call to fall in was
sounded eight times at headquarters, and men were
kept in line for hours, in readiness for battle.
On the 25th of June, while carrying orders, I
visited my regiment, which had that day been
advanced through swamps, thickets, and brier-
entangled woods, and had captured two rebel
sharpshooters, perched in the trees,
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER. 141
Captain Gruff was coming out of his tent to meet
me, when a shot from the enemy passed through
his tent and struck the ground a dozen paces in his
rear.
" Glat to see you, Dick," said my captain ; and
then, with a look of disgust, and pointing with his
thumb over his shoulder, said, referring to the shot
just fired, " Dit you effer see such foolishness as
dot?"
"Do you have much of this foolishness here ? "
I inquired.
'' Shust all the time. They is cutting oup, march-
ing, countermarching, and shooting like mat. Dem
sharpshooters I shust sent to Sheneral Hooker says
dot Magruder is in command, and they is oup to
mischief somevare."
"Do you think they will attack us here?" I
inquired.
" No : they plays mit us here, but strikes some-
vare else," was the shrewd reply of the old soldier.
And so it proved. Stonewall Jackson, marching
up the Shenandoah Valley, and alarming the ad-
ministration for the safety of Washington, had
slipped between his pursuers, sent out to bag him,
and was even then within striking distance of our
right wing at Mechanics ville.
On the morning of the 27th, while riding to the
different encampments, I heard the dull reverbera-
tions of distant cannonading.
It was the attack of sixty thousand men, under
142 JED'S ADVENTURES.
General Lee at Gaines' Mill, on Fitz John Porter
with thirty thousand.
Magruder, meanwhile, was holding the lines in
our front before Richmond with twenty-five thou-
sand.
McClellan had now planned to extricate his army
from its false position by a retreat to a safer base
on the James River.
It was a judicious and safe plan, though forced
upon him, instead of being a matter of his choice.
On arriving at Captain Gruff's quarters I found
him, as usual, in the SAveltering heat, with his coat
buttoned tight at the neck, puffing away at his pipe
with a far away, thoughtful look in his eyes.
" What's the matter, captain ? " I inquired. " Are
the people on the other side acting foolishly again ? "
" They shust acts like mat all der time," was his
response, working liis goatee excitedly over his
nose like the rammer of a musket in the act of
loadino-.
The enemy made feints upon our entire line.
On the 28th our advanced positions, taken on the
25tli, were abandoned.
Marcliing orders came with the morning. As I
rode to the different encampments, men on every
side were engaged in destroying clothing, provisions,
and ammunition. Shot and shell were thrown into
pools and brooks, tents and clothing were cut into
shreds, canteens and camjD-kettles were punched
with bayonets, barrels of sugar, whiskey, and vine-
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER. 143
gar were overturned on the ground. No fires were
allowed in this work of destruction, because they
would excite suspicion. On my return to head-
quarters in the morning I found General Hooker
superintending the destruction of his personal
baggage.
Everything betokened that this army, which
had been thundering at the gates of Richmond, was
about to turn back in retreat. The rank and file
could only imperfectly surmise the position of
affairs, most of them professing to believe in a
strategic move on Richmond.
The march soon began. Baggage wagons, herds
of cattle, marching columns enveloped in dust, were
seen on all the roads converging at Savage Sta-
tion. Here a line of battle was formed in the edge
of the woods, extending a mile to the right, with
batteries planted in the clearing in front.
Toward the Chickahominy was now seen the
smoke of burning bridges, stores, and munitions of
war.
At the hospital camp of five thousand sick and
wounded men there was much excitement on
account of tliis unwonted activity.
Near this point I again encountered Sonny, the
cavalryman, whose wounds were almost healed, but
who was in his usual demoralized condition. He
was covered with dust, and without blanket, jacket,
or knapsack, but in perfect good humor, notwith-
standing such trifles.
144 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Learning that my acquaintance, Henry Grace,
was at the hospital, I went, accompanied by Sonny,
to look liim up, and advise him to get away if
possible.
The hospital camj) was established on a hillside,
on which grew a few stunted peach-trees, and con-
sisted of tents and one house, Avith its surrounding
negro quarters.
The inmates presented a pitiful sight. Many,
victims of the swamp fever, were mere skeletons,
and high-pitched, piteous tones of complaint, en-
treaty, or inquiry were heard on every side.
The air was quivering with heat, the earth baked
and barren, and the air filled with the offensive ef-
fluvium peculiar to a crowded hospital. For a time
I could find no trace of my friend, and I was about
to abandon further search when the attitude of a
soldier sitting under a tree some distance from me
arrested my attention. The visor of his cap pointed
upward at a defiant angle, while his collected, " go
as you please " manner told me it was Grace. He
was eating diminutive green peaches, and, as we
approached, greeted me with " Hallo ! orderly,
what's up ? "
" Well, we may take Richmond or take to the
James River," said Sonny, without waiting for my
reply.
" Whew ! whose steeple are you ? " said Grace
sarcastically, looking upward at tlie towering foria
of Sonny.
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER. 145
" Me ? " replied Sonny, nothing abashed, " I'm a
dismounted cavahyman in search of a horse. Say,
you ; ain't you afraid you'll hurt your Latin inter-
nal parts with them air cholera bullets you are
tucking away there ? "
Grace paid no heed to this reply, but pursued
the " tucking-aAvay " process as he resumed the
broken thread of our conversation.
" What's the army up to ? " interrogated Grace.
In answer I pointed to the clouds of black smoke
which rose at different points along the railroad,
marking the destruction of stores.
On the hill opposite to the camp was a heap of
blue uniforms, boxes and barrels of clotliino- and
provisions, piled up for destruction.
" I need a pair of trousers and a coat. Guess I'll
go over and get some," said Sonny. In a few
moments he came back very angry.
" What's the matter. Sonny?" I inquired.
"That lunk-headed officer wouldn't give me a
thing. Said he'd been ordered to destroy the stuff,
and couldn't account for the property if men were
supplied from the stores."
" That's red tape with a vengeance," said Grace, .
sympathetically.
That afternoon Grace, mindful of my advice,
hobbled into line and joined the exodus, rather
than take his chances staying at the hospital camp.
Sonny insisted that the movement was not a retreat,
only a flank movement on Richmond.
146 JED'S ADVENTURES.
As I have elsewhere intimated, there were many
of his opinion at the time. The army pushed on,
crowding the narrow defile that crosses White Oak
Swamp. It had at least the compensating advan-
tage that, while moving in that direction, it was
preserved from a flank attack.
About five o'clock we heard the roar of battle in
our rear, where brave Sumner was engaging the
enemy at Savage's Station, and where he beat
them in the encounter. That night he obeyed
orders and retreated, in order that he might not be
cut off from the main army, leaving the hospital
camp of five thousand miserables in the hands of
the enemy.
The next day, the 30th of June, our division had
halted near the church at Glendale; and active
cannonading at White Oak bridge, which had been
destroyed, showed that Jackson was following
closely on the heels of the retreating army. The
army of Lee had, meanwhile, learned of our move-
ments, and had sent a large force around through
Richmond to intercept our retreat.
Our position at Glendale was the key point where
they hoped to break through our lines, divide the
army, capture its trains, and overwhelm it in dis-
astrous defeat. Here we waited all the forenoon,
while our train wagons, herds of cattle, and troops
passed over the hot and dusty road.
Longs treet and Hill attacked by the Newmarket
road in the afternoon. McCall's division of Penn-
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER. 147
sylvanians, stretched at right angles across the
Newmarket road, and parallel and in front of the
Quaker road, was first assailed about thi^ee o'clock.
The batteries in front of this line were also fiercely
charged, and the cannoneers driven from their guns.
Our left, held b}^ Seymour's brigade, was mean-
while doubled up by a fierce attack and driven in
between Sumner on the left and the position we
were holding.
Our line was soon ordered to advance, and went
in on the double-quick to regain the lost ground.
I saw my regiment with the rest ; Captain Gruff
A\dth drawn sword, and with the grim composure on
his red face, common to him in times of danger.
Some of McCall's men came rushing from the
front calling out, —
" We're whipped I we're whipped ! "
"My men are all cut to pieces," exclaimed an
excited officer.
" Dry up, you old fool," said some one from our
ranks.
"Sure we don't need any cavalry to keep us
from running away," shouted a voice that I rec-
ognized as that of my old friend O'Keif, who was
now a lieutenant.
Then the din of musketry, the cannonade, the
long yell of the Confederates, and the hurrah of
the Union soldiers, showed that our lines were
fiercely engaged with the enemy. Another voice
of battle was also soon heard : the boom of the
148 JED'S ADVENTURES.
heavy guns on our gunboats on the James River.
Their shells struck the ranks of our enemy on the
left, and, we afterwards learned, produced great
consternation.
When nearly dark I found my old regiment
holding the road the enemy had entered that after-
noon. Captain Gruff was engaged in stationing
pickets on all the paths leading from the adjacent
swamps and woods.
" Dis swamp is full of ' rebs,' and ef we keeps
still we gobbles dem," said the captain, with a
wise nod, when I asked him what was going on.
As it grew darker we could hear those who were
separated from their commands, and who were
wandering around in the swamps, calling out the
name of their regiments and companies.
Our men, instructed by Captain Gruff, an-
swered them as if from their friends, directing
them into the Union lines, where they were cap-
tured.
A large number of prisoners, in this way, were
brought into our lines. Most of them were poorly
clad in butternut and gray homespun, with strips
of carpet for blankets. Few had knapsacks, but
wore their blankets over their shoulders with the
ends tied together under the left arm.
One of these prisoners was a captain, and accosted
Captain Gruff Avith extended hand, —
" Hullo, sergeant ! Don't you remember me ? "
The captain did not remember him, but I at once
RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER. 149
recognized him as Walker, the man who had es-
caped from the guard Avhile under court-martial at
Fort Monroe. He afterwards informed us that
his father was a prominent Virginian, and that his
escape had been connived at by the officers at the
time it occurred.
The next morning our troops took possession of
Malvern Hill, where the Confederates made a suc-
cession of daring attacks and met with bloody
repulses. This was the last of the seven days'
battle and retreat, during which the Union army
inflicted a loss of twenty thousand men on the
Confederacy, while sust^-ining a loss of only fif-
teen thousand.
The physical results were in our favor, but the
moral results were with the Confederates, who had
raised the siege of Richmond, and had caused the
Union army to retreat from its position. I did not
witness the arrival of the army on the James River,
as will be seen in the following chapter.
CHAPTER XV.
A PRISONER.
"TT was twilight when I began my return from
-*- Captain Gruff's. As I rode along the darkling
woods, I thought over the events of the campaign ;
wondering whero Jed was ; and was soon in that
half-dreamy condition of mind in which one acts
mechanically, while his thoughts are far away from
liis surroundings.
In the midst of these reveries I was brought to
myself by the restive conduct of my horse, which
was nervously jerking at the bit, as if to attract my
attention. I spoke to her sharply, when, —
" Halt ! Who goes there ? " came a sharp per-
emptory challenge.
In the gathering darkness I could not distinguish
my challenger, but I replied, —
"An orderly with orders. What troops are
those?"
" The 60th North Carolinas," came the reply.
" I see that I am on the wrong road," I said,
now recovering my presence of mind, for I at once
perceived that I must get away quickly if I did not
wish to go to Richmond sooner than the army did.
At the same instant I wheeled, and clinging to
150
A PRISONER. 151
my horse with my face to her neck urged her for-
ward.
The report of muskets and the ping of bullets
around my ears showed that I had acted none too
soon.
I had not gone more than five hundred yards,
when I heard the measured tread of a marching
column approaching me from the opposite direction.
As I listened I could distinguish the sharp though
suppressed tones of command, and was satisfied
that a regiment was marching down the road.
Were they friends, or foes?
I drew my horse into the edge of the wood
which skirted the road, and, as if understanding
my purpose, she stood as still as if made of bronze
or stone. The least motion must have betrayed
us, the road was so narrow.
I was still uncertain whether the column was
Federal or Confederate when the word " Yanks "
from some one in the passing column satisfied me
that they were enemies.
It seemed an hour when the last file of men
passed, and I drew a long breath of relief. I did
not realize until then what a tension had been put
upon my nerves.
I was now quite confident that there were no
enemies on my route. My horse, however, soon
began to act as if she suspected danger.
Thus warned, I walked her slowly doAvn the
road, until some one cried out '' Halt ! Halt I " ac-
152 JED'S ADVENTURES,
companied by the ominous click of cocking mus-
kets, and at the same time my bridle was seized.
"What troops are these?" I inquired.
" Third Alabama," was the response.
" I have just come from the 60tli Carolina, and
am in a hurry ; let go my bridle ! " I exclaimed,
trying to turn my horse.
" That card don't take the trick, Yank," said a
voice.
Trusting to the darkness I fired my revolver at
the man holding my horse, and at the same time
urged the horse forward. It was a failure. My
revolver missed its aim.
I was now roughly pulled from my horse and
was a prisoner.
" If you have any papers, hand them over here,"
was sharply commanded.
A lantern was procured, and I was searched, and
then marched up the road under guard. We soon
came to a fire, around which were grouped several
officers. Here an officer with three stars on his
collar sharply questioned me. I was not very care-
ful to answer his questions correctly, for I knew
enough of military usage to know that by correct
answers I might give very important information
to the enemy.
" This man," said the officer, " either knows too
much or too little for our purpose."
As I was led from this unsought conference, I
asked my guard, " What officer is that ? "
A PRISONER. 153
" That is General Longstreet : he's our general,
and I reckon he's 'bout the best general we uns
have got, except Uncle Robert."
"Who's Uncle Robert?" I queried.
" Why, General Lee. We uns will be in Wash-
ington next week, and I reckon the whole durned
Yankee nation will know Uncle Robert by that
time."
I lay by a fire under guard all night, not sleeping
much, but going over and over with the scenes of
the evening which I have here briefly recounted.
When morning came, I, with about twenty other
prisoners, was hurried on to Richmond.
As we arrived at the spot where I had been
questioned the previous evening, I saw a keen-
eyed mounted officer, very straight and dignified,
talking with General Longstreet.
" What officer is that ? " I inquired of the
guard.
" That's General Lee," was the reply.
As we were halted near this spot, I saw my
horse led out and mounted by a young officer.
" If you will watch that horse and officer," said
I to the talkative sergeant of the guard, " you'll
see some fun."
The officer mounted, took the bridle carelessly,
and rode off at a canter ; when, quick as a flash, the
little horse ploughed her front feet into the dust,
and threw up her heels with a flourish of those
members, as if she intended to kick out the sky.
154 JED'S ADVENTURES.
The officer, taken unawares, was pitched over her
head.
The whole squad laughed, but the dismounted
officer did not. He attempted to catch her, but
she evaded him as nimbly as a dog. After several
trials had been made, I said to an officer near, —
" I Avill catch her, if you wish me to ? "
The officer assented. I gave a peculiar whistle,
and she came to me as if overjoyed at once more
seeing me.
" This is my blanket strapped to her," I said to
the officer whom I had previously addressed.
" No, sir, it's mine," said the officer snappishly.
Before they could take her bridle from my hands,
I gave her a signal and off she pranced again, kick-
ing at everything she passed, and all attempts to
catch her proved unavailing.
The officer who had first mounted her came up,
and after speaking a few words to the officer with
whom I had been speaking, said to me, —
" Catch that horse, and you shall have your
blanket."
I again called her, and, neighing and capering,
she came in response to my call, and rubbed her
nose against my arm.
My heart sank, and I almost cried at the thought
of parting with her. The young officer loosened
my blanket and handed it to me, saying, —
" She's a beautiful creature, and I am sorry that
you must lose her, but it is the fortune of war,"
A PRISONER. 155
I replied, " If you treat her firmly but kindly,
she will behave well. Don't strike her."
The officer replied politely, " I thank you, sir I
I love a horse and will treat her well."
As we marched away, I again saw my little horse
prancing over fences and ditches in the direction
of Richmond, a23parently defying every effort to
catch her.
A two hours' march now brought us to the rebel
capital. There were no vehicles in its streets.
Here and there groups of women on the sidewalks
anxiously interrogated our guards. I was told
that almost every house was being prepared for a
hospital. The prisoners were allowed to go into
the shops to buy bread. In one of the shops an
Irishwoman treated me to raspberry wine, and
gave me a loaf of bread.
"Do you think McClellan will get into Rich-
mond with his army ? " inquired the woman.
'' Yes," I repHed, " the Yankee army will be here
in a week."
'^ And sure I hope they will," said she, with a
sigh : " we don't dare say our soul's our own, and
I'm agin this government, anpvay."
We were marched along by the side of the canal
on Carey Street, where several naked boys, bathing,
shook their tiny clinched fists at us, shouting in
tones of threat and derision.
We were soon halted before an isolated three-
story block, near and in line of the canal, on one
156 JED'S ADVENTURES.
corner of which was displayed the sign, "Libby
and Son, Ship Chandlers and Grocers." Here we
were conducted up a steep and filthy staircase to a
large room, in which there was an ordinary heating
stove, and in one corner of the room was a large
round tank supplied with James River water.
The building had just been cleared of prisoners,
and the air was reeking with the effluvium of
wounds and sickness. The stench was so terrible
that one instinctivel}^ field his breath.
From this room we were taken to the third story,
next the roof, where the air was still worse, and
where we found about a hundred other prisoners.
No food was given us that day.
In a few days more, the wounded prisoners from
Savage's Station were added to our numbers,
some with amputated limbs, others with unhealed,
festering wounds, and all suffering from heat and
fatigue. Here they were marshalled, regardless of
their sufferings, jostling against each other's hurts
as they staggered in. The room was soon filled
to suffocation with inmates ; there was scarcely
room to lie down.
The cracks and crevices swarmed with vermin.
The hot sun beat on the low roof above us until
the heat became so unendurable that men were
constantly crowding to the windows and exclaim-
ing, " I shall die unless I get fresh air."
When rations were issued, men struggled with
each other for the contents of the buckets of soup
A PRISONER. 157
and the meagre pieces of bread. The prisoners
fought with each other for a fair division, while
those who distributed the food were more intent
on finishing their duties quickly, than in doing
them properly.
For several weeks previous to my capture I had
had symptoms of swamp fever. I became weak
and nervous, and in attempting to rise one day,
fell unconscious.
" Got a fever, old chap, I guess," said a fellow-
prisoner in kindly tones.
" How does a fever begin ? " I inquired.
" You are cold and shivering one moment, and
the next you are burning up," was the laconic an-
swer.
" I guess that's what's the matter, for that's a de-
scriptive list of my feelings," I replied.
That night I could not sleep, and the next morn-
ing was weak and trembling, and hardly able to
stand.
"Any one got any quinine?" asked a gruff and
familiar voice.
I turned to the questioner, but could not recog-
nize the face, which was turned from the light.
" Isn't it Sonny ? " I inquired.
" By gosh, that's what they give me in place of
a name, sometimes, but who on earth air you?
Jerusalem! if it isn't the little orderly;" for
though I was by no means little, thus Sonny always
designated me.
158 JED'S ADVENTURES.
" You look all beat out, and ' powerful ' far gone,
as the rebs say."
" How did they get you? " I inquired.
" Well," he replied, " I was with a lot of other
fellows coming across White Oak swamp; they
were a sick and wounded crowd, and I was the
only one of 'em with a musket. The rebs began
to tag close to our heels, so I said, sez I, ' You fel-
lers make tracks as fa,st as you can, and I'll cover
your retreat.' They got away, and the rebs got
me."
About nine o'clock that morning a Confederate
officer came into our room, saying, —
'' All you Yanks, who want to get out of this
hole and go to Belle Isle, where there is good air
and running water and trees, get your traps to-
gether lively and tumble out here."
To me at the time, fresh air and plenty of water
seemed the most desirable things on earth. I suc-
ceeded in getting into line with a crowd of strug-
gling sick and hungry miserables to go to Belle Isle.
The name of this place itself seemed to speak of
shade and comfort, and had not then become a
synonym of suffering and imprisonment. As I fell
into line, I saw a man near me who looked so much
like Jed that I called out, " Jed ! Jed ! don't you
know me, Jed ? "
The man stood still, without one look or motion
of recognition, and soon moved away, I was mis-
taken, and yet it seemed impossible.
A PRISONER, 159
Was the guard right when, looking at me com-
passionately, he said, —
" I reckon ye'd better not go down to Belle Isle ;
it's a right hard place, old hoss, and ye ain't quite
right here," tapping his forehead significantly.
However, I persisted. There did not seem to be
any place worse than the one I was leaving, and I
might get into one that was better. This kindly
Virginian carried my blanket and haversack, and
helped me along as best he could.
The sun was very hot during the first part of
our march, but soon the sky became overcast with
signs of an approaching storm. Many of those
marching to Belle Isle were, like myself, sick, and
hence the march was slow.
After crossing the long railroad bridge which
spans the river from the Manchester side to Belle
Isle, it began to rain ; and we were halted in an old
rolling-mill, where I lay down, thoroughly worn
out with fever and exhaustion, and my head racked
with pain.
At last we reached the Belle Isle prison camp,
where all my hopes of comfortable quarters were
dispelled. The ground of the camp was almost on
a level with the James River, and was wet, and in
places overflowed.
The guard who had carried my blanket here left
me, and I was without friends, or even shelter from
the pitiless storm. The few ragged tents were
crowded with men, and there was no room for me.
160 JED'S ADVENTURES.
The inky blackness of night came on, relieved
only by vivid lightning flashes. I became delirious
and unconscious by turns ; I could hear a voice
Avhich I sometimes recognized as my own, shriek-
ing with unnatural laughter, singing in discordant
strains, or muttering unmeaning phrases.
I remembered notliing more of what occurred for
days. One morning (which seemed but the next
morning after) I awoke, and, framed in the entrance
of the small tent in which I lay, saw Jed's face look-
ing in upon me with kindly interest.
A great rush of gladness came to my heart as I
feebly reached out my hand to him, and faintly,
but with the eagerness with which the thirsty ask
for drink, cried, " Jed ! Jed ! "
I feared at first that this was but a creature of
my fancy, like the many other imaginings of my
fevered brain, of which I retained a dim remem-
brance. When Jed came and sat beside me, hold-
ing my thin hands, I no longer felt pain or care.
Without uttering a word, I fell into a deep refresh-
ing sleep, from which I awoke to find Jed still
compassionately bending over me. I began to grow
strong from that hour. Should I ever be sick again
if Jed was with me ? I had not before realized how
my heart had hungered for him in all these months
of absence. I could not regard even captivity as a
misfortune when it brought Jed to my side once
more ; and even now, after a lapse of years, I can-
not recall the effect which his presence and sym-
A PRISONER, 161
pa thy had upon me (so like a ministering angel),
without thanking God for bringing to me the bene-
diction of his presence. In a few days, when I had
grown stronger, Jed told me the story of his adven-
tures since our last meeting, which I must reserve
for another chapter.
CHAPTER XVI.
jed's story.
" rriWENTY-FOUR hours," said Jed, "before
-*- coming into these lines as a spy, I had no
more thought of it than you had. The proposition
was made to me in the morning, and that evening
I accepted, and reached the rebel lines at Yorktown
the same night, as a deserter. Pretty quick work
that, even in the army, where a man decides and
acts promptly.
"About that time the information received
through the regular secret-service channels was not
satisfactory: it was contradictory, and these con-
tradictions, it was believed, could be explained only
by some one acting independently of, and with-
out the knowledge of, the Secret-Service Bureau.
The number of troops confronting us, whether it
consisted of a small force or of the entire rebel
army, as well as questions of minor information,
were, if possible, to be determined.
" To act independently of the regularly organized
Secret-Service Bureau was more agreeable to me,
from the fact that it appealed to my pride, and at
the same time seemed safer than to be one of many
in a similar service.
162
JED'S STORY, 163
" It was about midnight when I was conducted
to our pickets, and turned loose between the oppos-
ing lines. You remember the night was dark, and
by an understanding with the officer of the picket,
when I escaped I was to be fired upon.
" The plan was carried out as arranged. I broke
from the officer with whom I had been conversing-,
and, running a few yards, threw myself face down-
ward on the ground. It was well for me that I
did, for the rifles of the picket-line were so well
directed, notwithstanding the darkness, that a bullet
struck the back of my head, and took a strip of hair
from it, right here," said Jed, directing my atten-
tion uo a place on his head where the bullet had
grazed his scalp.
" The picket-lines of our enemy at this point
were not more than two hundred yards from our
own, and I crawled in the mud on my hands and
knees nearly the whole of the remaining distance
to the rebel pickets.
" I was really angry that I had been hit by our
own men, and this fact, with the fire directed at me
while escaping, made it easy for me to assume the
role of a deserter. You will remember that when
I left I carried all my equipments, as well as my
knapsack. In the morning I was conducted to
General Magruder. The general Avas writing when
I entered his presence and stood at 'attention.'
He turned and looked at me in perfect silence for
a moment, with a steadiness that was trying to my
164 JED'S ADVENTURES.
nerves ; and then, with an indescribable lisp, which
did not, however, detract from his sternness, said, —
" ' Why did you come to our lines ? '
" ' I'm sick of the service,' I replied.
" ' Want to join us ? ' he inquired.
" ' Yes, but don't care to be caught by the Yanks.'
" ' What service were you in ? '
" I told him, and casually mentioned Captain
Gruff.
" ' Ah ! ' exclaimed he, ' is he there with the vol-
unteers ? '
" ' Yes,' I replied, ' and men who know nothing
about military affairs are promoted over men like
Captain Gruff and myself.'
" ' Ah ! ' said he, with his curious lisj), and in a
sarcastic tone, 'your smartness was not appreciated,
then?'
" ' Put the word experience in place of smartness,
general, and you are correct,' I replied.
" ' What experience have you had more than
other volunteers ? ' he asked.
"'I was in the regular service before the war,' I
replied.
" The general now exhibited increased interest,
and when I told him the branch of service I had
been in, and the officers under whom I had served,
he turned to his desk, scribbled a note, sent it off
by an orderly, while I still stood at ' attention.'
" To clinch what I had already said, I remarked,
'I have always been accustomed to serve under
JED'S STORY. 165
good officers and gentlemen, and not men who have
no title to either except their uniforms. I don't
like to submit to inferiors.'
" The general then began questioning me as to
the strength and composition of our forces. Ac-
cording to instructions received before leaving our
lines, I told him. Notwithstanding the apparent
straightforwardness of my replies, I thought I de-
tected a look of distrust in his face. I was getting
uneasy, and had begun to lose something of my
composure, when the general said, ' You may go
now.' As I turned, I confronted my old Captain
Doughty, under whom I served a short time on fhst
entering the service, as the reader will remember.
" The captain recognized me at once, and, extend-
ing his hand, said kindly, —
" ' Are you in our service ? '
" ' No, but I expect to be,' I replied.
" He glanced curiously at my uniform, and said,
in pleasant tones, ' You may go now, and return in
a few minutes.'
"Thus commanded, I sauntered around York-
town for a while, and it was a novel experience to
be viewing our own lines from the rebel position.
In a few moments I was recalled by an orderly.
As I reached the door, I heard Doughty saying,
' He's all right. I'll vouch for the boy ; ' and my
position was assured from that moment.
" I was placed on duty for a time with Doughty,
who was now a brigadier-general, and was kept
166 JED'S ADVENTURES.
busy drilling new men in artillery tactics. For a
time my escape to their lines was a constant theme
for comment among the rebels, whom I often heard
remarking, as I passed to my duties, ' There goes
that Yank ! '
" Meanwhile I had eyes and ears open, and was
constantly gathering important information, though
I was careful not to excite suspicion by asking lead-
ing questions, or by too much curiosity. I had at
the time of my escape a bad cold, making me some-
what deaf for the time, which, together with the
absent-mindedness of one who is busy with his own
thoughts, and who speaks but seldom, gave me a
reputation for deafness which soon became useful
to me. For, although I heard as well as any one as
soon as I got rid of my cold, the reputation for
deafness stood by me, and the general would often
say to those who spoke to me, 'Speak a little
louder; he's quite deaf.' Thus, favored by acci-
dent, I was soon in possession of important infor-
mation, and formed a good idea of the composition
and strength of the rebel forces at Yorktown.
"The desire to communicate this information,
and get back to our lines, now weighed heavily on
my mind. I was stationed on the water battery
near the York River, opposite Gloucester Point.
One morning after roll call I was sauntering around
near the water battery, when I saw a small boat of
the dory pattern lying at the wharf. There was
a pair of oars in her, and she was kept there, as I
jEb'S STORY, 167
afterwards learned, to communicate with the force
opposite at Gloucester Point. This boat I deter-
mined to use, at the first opportunity, for the pur-
pose of reaching our lines.
" With this design, one dark, rainy night I began
to put my plan in execution. Unfortunately, the
guards stationed along the water front had been
strengthened, and unusual vigilance was at that
time enjoined, as if in anticipation of a night attack.
I made my way to the wharf where the boat lay,
but found a sentinel walking his post across the
line of my approach to the wharf. As it was dark
and raining, I found bat little difficulty in reaching
the boat while the sentry was walking his post with
his back to me, but in attempting to unfasten her I
found she was held by a chain locked to the wharf.
" I was not prepared for this, and was about to
abandon my purpose ; but, feeling around in the
darkness, I ascertained that the chain was held to
the boat by means of a staple driven into the deck
of her prow. I wound the chain around one end
of an oar I found in her, and mth one wrench freed
her from the wharf.
'* The noise of the rattling chain must have been
heard by the sentry, for he called out as I pushed
off into the current, and drifted away on the out-
going tide.
"In less than an hour I had landed near the
Union Battery No. 1, on Wormley Creek, and
reached, as I thought, Captain Gruff's tent, which
168 JED'S ADVENTUkn^.
was not far from the shore. I entered, and, with-
out awakening its inmate, struck a match, but in-
stead of Captain Gruff saw a strange officer asleep
in his blankets. I noiselessly got out of the tent,
and in returning encountered a camp sentinel, who
challenged me. Instead of answering his demand
for the countersign, I inquired for Captain Gruff 's
quarters. He pointed out a tent not far distant,
where a light was burning. In another moment I
gave the colonel and Captain Gruff a surprise.
"I was shivering with wet and cold; but, having
no time to lose, I communicated my information to
the captain, in order that he might get it to our
commanding general without 3xciting the suspicion
of his regular corps of secret-service men, some of
whom might be around his quarters. My informa-
tion of the arrival of re-enforcements from Rich-
mond, and also other facts, Avas deemed important.
After I had communicated all this to Captain Gruff
he looked at his watch, then at an almanac, and
said, ' By the time you reach your boat, the tide will
have turned, and the current will carry you back.'
I had not expected to return, and objected. The
captain briefly outlined the information which it
was still desirable should be obtained, and said,
' You can probably reach their lines before daylight
without exciting sus]3icion, and such a chance will
not occur again in a lifetime.' I was easily per-
suaded, for I was not faint-hearted, and, with cloth-
ing still wet, in another hour was on my way back.
JED'S STORY, 169
*' Reaching my little craft, I silently rowed up
the York River, until I perceived that I was not far
from Yorktown. The tide was low, and, as I thought
myself likely to be detected in running my boat up
to the wharf, I landed on a sand-flat, made bare by
the receding tide, and walked in the direction of
the water battery, which seemed to be but a few
hundred yards from my landing-place.
'' I soon discovered that I had made a mistake.
There was a deep channel between me and the
water battery, and it w^as so dark that if I turned
back there was but little chance of my finding the
boat again.
" I now went, as I thought, towards the shore,
so as to keep clear of the channel. As I walked
the water grew deeper and deeper every moment.
Each way I turned seemed worse than the other.
I started in the direction where I thought the shore
ought to lie, but found mj^self in still deeper water.
I now halted and considered. As the result of my
deliberation, I advanced twenty paces in either di-
rection, in order to determine where the shore was.
A fog had now so increased the darkness that it
seemed almost palpable to the touch.
" My experiment for reacliing the shore was a
failure. The water was continually growing deeper
and deeper, whichever way I moved. I was lost !
" There was apparently left to me but one alter-
native, that of swimming in the direction in which
the current set. I had just determined on this when
170 JED'S ADVENTURES.
I felt something bump against me. I put out my
hand ; it was a boat. I clambered on board and
found it was my own skiff, which, liberated from
the sand-flat by the incoming tide, had drifted
down to me.
" To such an extent do conditions of mind de-
pend upon incidental contrasts, that in a moment it
was as if I had passed from gloom to light. With
senses all alert I now steered my boat with the
tide. It was not long before I felt the boat strike
against something which impeded her course. It
was a wharf. But where ? I listened, but could
hear no sound. I landed upon the wharf, but nearly
fell back into the water, so bewildered was I by the
events of the night. I now turned towards what I
knew to be the shore end ; listening at every step,
I passed along the hard sandy shore for a short dis-
tance, when I was halted by a sentinel.
"I was re-assured and confident when he said,
'• Been longer than usual, haven't you ? ' Though
I did not have the most distant idea to what he
referred, I assented by saying, ' Yes,' and passed
on without further notice. I now recognized my
surroundings ; reached my quarters, changed my
wet clothes for dry ones, and notwithstanding the
perilous adventures through which I had passed,
soon fell asleep. It was broad daylight w^hen I
awoke and learned that my absence from camp had
not been noticed or susjDected. The boat had been
found, but beyond some conjectures as to how the
JED'S STORY, 171
chain became detached from her, I heard no com.
ments.
"During the weeks which followed, I was an in>
terested spectator of the occasional artillery firing
along the fortified lines.
"Fortune again favored me. As I could write,
and was considered too deaf for ordinary soldier's
duty, I was recommended, and became an orderly
for General Johnson.
" By this time the role of a deaf person came
very natural to me, and I practised showing anger
when it was alluded to, as deaf men usually do.
The habit of keeping my mouth shut grew upon
me just in proportion as I exercised it. I remem-
bered an old maxim, ' Least said, soonest mended,'
which to one in my circumstances seemed to contain
the essence of common sense.
" I was on duty at General Johnson's quarters
when he issued the order for the retreat from York-
town. But for being so closely tied to headquar-
ters, the bustle of preparation which now began on
every side would have given me a good opportunity
for escape, with information to our army of the in-
tended retreat.
" While the preparations were going on I went
into the general's tent, and saw spread on the table
a map showing the earthworks and roads at Wil-
liamsburg and other places between Yorktown and
the Pamunky River. Fortunately, I had some
tracing-paper with me. This I placed over the
172 ♦ JED'S ADVENTURES.
drawings, and, with my face towards the door,
began rapidly to trace them.
" I had finished two of the most important ones,
when I heard ajDproaching footsteps, and concealing
my work I threw myself into a seat and was appar-
ently sleepy, listless, and indifferent, when the per-
son whose steps I had heard came in.
" I had to be spoken to twice before I under-
stood that he wished to see General Johnson.
* Can't you go for him ? ' said the visitor. ' No
sir ! ' I replied, ' I am attending to these quarters
during the general's absence ; ' whereui^on he sat
down to wait.
"A clerk who had been absent on duty or at
dinner, came in and seated himself at the table
and entered into earnest conversation with the
visitor. I took a seat outside, near the door, and
in a few minutes the clerk and visitor came out
conversing.
" As soon as they were out of sight I returned
to the general's quarters, made copies of several
important papers, concealing them in an inner
pocket.
" General Johnson soon came in, and with an
absent manner, as if much pre-occupied Avith his
thoughts, began writing. I could see by the mo-
tion of his pen that the communication was to Gen-
eral Magruder, and that it was not important.
" My rule was never to pry around for informa-
tion, or to tamper with letters, but to get possession
JED'S STORY. 173
of such as seemed to come most readily to hand.
The intelligence thus gained was not strained to
fit theories, and hence was genuine.
" I now wished to reach our lines with the infor-
mation secured. It was only two days after this
that our retreat began. My riding up to the lines
of my regiment at Yorktown was simply accident
and not design.
" I had gone to the front during the battle, hop-
ing I might get a chance to reach our lines in safety.
During the advance a rebel officer had been shot
from his horse. I caught the horse, and, quickly
assuming the officer's uniform and equipments,
mounted, and had regained the advancing line,
when a volley from your brigade threw our col-
umns into confusion and gave me my opportunity.
'' Of course I ran great risks, but I took the
risk, for I felt I was in God's hands and was ren-
dering good service to my country."
In reply to the question of how he came on
Belle Isle he said, —
''I was wounded at Fair Oaks, while on duty
with General Johnson, and was sent to the hospi-
tal at Richmond. Although I was not fit for duty,
I often went into the street, doing errands for our
hospital near Libby. It was on one of these errands
that I saw you. It almost broke my heart to walk
away without noticing your appeal, but it was the
only course I could pursue.
" I went back to the hospital at once, and asked
174 JED'S ADVENTURES.
the privilege of going to the front. It was granted,
and I was considered a patriot.
" That night I changed my clothes for a suit of
Union blue I had bought at Libby, and without
being noticed joined a group of prisoners that were
on their way to Belle Isle, where I knew you had
been sent."
"Ain't you afraid of being detected?" I in-
quired.
" There is always a possibility, but it is hardly
probable in this case," was Jed's reply. " I think
there will be a parole soon, and then I shall get
into the Union lines, with the rest of 3^ou, as a
prisoner of war I "
The plan was a good one, and Jed reasoned that
liis safety consisted in the fact that his former rebel
associates believed him to be in the hospital, Avhile
those in the hospital believed he had gone to re-
sume his old army duties. Such in substance
was Jed's story, though there were many other in-
teresting details which I might give did space
permit.
" During the advance a rebel oflBcer had been shot from
his horse." — Page 173,
CHAPTER XVII.
A convalescent's glimpse of belle isle
IN 1862.
/CONVALESCENT at last, I began, with feeble
^-^ steps and slowly recovering strength, to
familiarize myself with the prison.
To rise enfeebled from a fever and its delirium
in this wretched place at first gave to all my sur-
roundings a tone of unreality. Nothing seemed
real but Jed.
The squalid wretchedness, which, under ordinary
circumstances, would have been met with cheerful-
ness or hopeful endurance, now seemed to me like
a part of my fevered dreams, — an oppressive night-
mare, from whose thraldom I was impatient to
break. I chafed with nervous expectancy, as if
its spell could be suddenly dissolved. The present
seemed interwoven with some intangible remem-
brances, which my mind was constantly attempting
to connect with its present surroundings, or with
the reality of a well-defined past.
From this semi-dream condition I was at times
fully awakened by the voracious demands of an
unsatisfied appetite, common to those recovering
175
176 JED'S ADVENTURES.
from a fever. ' This hunger was accompanied by a
craving for luxuries, which could not be satisfied.
The rations at this time on Belle Isle were very
meagre. A small half-loaf of baker's bread, sup-
plemented once or twice a week by thin and dirty
bean soup, from the top of which maggots could
be skimmed, constituted a day's rations for a pris-
oner. There were days, however, Avhen no food
was issued. Whether occasioned by neglect, acci-
dent, or design, it was nevertheless true that no
back rations, to make up this deficiency, were ever
issued.
No excuses, however ingenious, could satisfy
this lack of food, as my appetite was clamorous for
that, and not for apologies. When rations were
issued regularly, my appetite seemed to grow larger
as the size of my rations increased.
Jed had some money, perhaps a hundred dollars
in all, of Confederate money and local ''shinplas-
ters." As he thought it imprudent to come in fa-
miliar contact with the guard, for fear of recognition,
I did such trading or buying as was necessary.
Women sometimes came to camp with bitter dried-
peach pies, guiltless of sugar, and other doubtful
goodies. The most palatable food Avas obtained
from the guards, who were sometimes willing to sell
Indian corn cakes, wheat biscuit, or bacon. Once I
bought a dozen eggs and a quart of milk, and Jed
and I had a feast which made our boyish stomachs
glad for a whole day. But, as if the Confederacy
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 177
was depleted by this output, the chance to purchase
these articles of food did not again occur in our
experience at Belle Isle.
The guards were forbidden to hold conversation
or to trade with their prisoners, but their great de-
sire to obtain " Yankee lixin's " opened a way to a
commerce Avhich was improved to its fullest extent
by both parties. I do not remember a single guard
on Belle Isle who did not inquire if I had a jack-knife
which I would sell or exchange. Thus it might be
said that the jack-knife opened trade, otherwise for-
bidden to Yankee enterprise, all along the rebel guard
line. At first I used the money I had to buy food,
but the prices were so high that money melted away
Hke ice in the tropics, and the traffic seemed likely
to culminate in our financial ruin. So, actuated by
thrifty sentiments, I bought jack-knives, watches,
and boots with our Confederate scrip, and with
these, instead of money, advanced confidently to
trade with the guard, who were supposed to be
controlled by inflexible rules, many of which, how-
ever, I was able to violate with impunity. The
prisoners occupied their leisure time (and their
time was mostly of this description) in manufac-
turing pipes of brier-root, napkin and finger rings
of bone, the engraved letters or designs being
filled with melted sealing-wax to resemble inlaid
work ; and these were also offered for sale, to enable
the hungry manufacturers to fUl what might almost
be called an acliing void, were not their stomachs
178 JED'S ADVENTURES.
so full of hunger. It was an obdurate guard indeed
who was not willing to trade for " Yankee traps,"
when brought out in the shape of red-top Yankee
boots, watches, or first-class jack-knives.
The prison ground consisted of a low, sandy
point of land extending towards, and in sight of,
Richmond. Its area at this period was defined by a
low railing three feet or more in height, which the
prisoners were allowed to approach, but not to cross
without permission. This line was not a " dead
line," as that refinement of prison rules was reserved
for a different era of Confederate prisons. On
three sides of this flat area ran the coffee-colored
James River, dashing against the little, verdure-clad
islets and the rocks which stood in its path, as if in
wrath at such intrusion.
The railing mentioned was from twenty to thirty
yards from the river on the south and east, while
a much wider space intervened on the north. This
northern part was often completely inundated dur-
ing or after rainy weather. Thus, while three sides
might be said to be guarded by the river, a high
bluff or hill in the rear marked the western limit
of our prison. Here the guards had their camps,
" roosting high," as Jed remarked sarcastically, and
out of sight of the "Yanks." Jed informed me
that there was a fort on the hill, which guarded
the western approaches to the rebel capital.
The banks of the island opposite Richmond were
fringed with graceful foliage, with here and there
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 179
a magnolia tree, overhanging the swift current,
the fragrance of whose blossoms (Occasionally came
to us, in marked contrast to the unsavory odors of
the prison. Opposite, on the Richmond side, were
iron-works where, in the afternoon, workmen could
be seen and heard testing cannon made for the
armies of the Confederacy.
Each day there came from the city to us, a huge
scow loaded with bread, and with unpainted wooden
boxes, to be used as coffins for the deceased pris-
oners. This uncouth ferry-boat, with its ominous
cargo, seemed like some ark on the waters of the
River of Death, freighted to show tlie possibilities
of our future.
One afternoon during the month of August I
sat watching the spires and roofs of the rebel capi-
tal, which were bathed in sunset hues, against a
background of beautiful clouds. From the city
came dimly the sounds of busy life. These sights
and sounds filled me with an inexpressible longing
for home. Whether these feelings were reflected
in my face, I do not know, but Jed sitting near me
inquired, —
" What are you thinking about ? "
"I was thinking," I replied wearily, "how
beautiful it looks over there in Richmond. It
must be a pleasant place to live in. I'd like to be
free to look it over."
" Inviting to the eye, but ashes to the touch,"
said Jed musingly ; '' it might be called the City
180 JED'S ADVENTURES,
of Sorrow. Many mothers there have lost their
sons ; and from all over the South those who have
fathers, brothers, husbands, or sons in the army
come with aching hearts searching for their miss-
ing ones. Arriving, they often learn that they
are sick, wounded, or dead. I have seen the
most terrible agony of dread on the faces of
women.
'' Almost all the public buildings, factories, and
warehouses, as well as many of the private resi-
dences, are either hospitals or prisons, in which are
confined not only Yankee prisoners, but many brave
Union men, or suspected citizens of the South.
The South is already destitute of luxuries, and, in
a great part, of necessities and comforts. In the
hospitals, pieces of carpeting, tablecloths, home-
made blankets and comforters made of cotton cloth
with wadding of cotton sandwiched between, are
used for blankets. Herbs have taken the place of
ordinary drugs. Quinine cannot be had, except
in very small quantities, at any price. In its houses
destitution is the rule, and comfort the exception.
The people have become distrustful of Confederate
money, and the fractional scrip of towns outside
of Richmond can hardly be forced upon them. It
already takes a hatful of money to purchase a
small basket of provisions.
"Any one having a printing-press can make
money of small denomination which passes cur-
rent as well as any, but a knowledge of this fact
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 181
deepens the distrust prevalent on every side. A
Confederate dollar buys an ordinary loaf of wheat
bread which can be purchased for ten cents at the
North. Those who have specie hoard it."
" If that is true, I should think the South would
be tired of the war," I said. Jed shook his head,
and replied, —
" You don't understand these people ; I didn't at
first. Under much that is extravagant in state-
ment and sentiment, — under all their swagger,
there is a deep-set pride and determination. The
Southerners will suffer everything rather than yield
to the Yankees, whom they detest and hate. They
have the virtues of those who are comparatively
primitive in their habits of life. I cannot help re-
specting their soldiers, who stand up bravely and
take cold lead for what they believe to be right ; or
their citizens, who, when put to the test, suffer
every inconvenience of poverty and want, that the
army may be fed and clothed and kept in the field.
I sometimes feel that the Southerners are a braver
and more consistent people than we Northerners.
Our army couldn't be held together under such
conditions of pay and rations : they would revolt
and go home."
And then, as if ashamed of his earnestness, Jed
added with a change of face and tone, in droll imi-
tation of one of the Confederate guard whom he
sometimes mimicked, —
" We uns will be right glad when you'ns have
182 JED'S ADVENTURES.
been licked ! What do you'ns come down here to
fight we uns for ? "
It was an old characteristic of Jed to cover his
more earnest and thoughtful moods by a veil of
humor.
In the few months since Jed had come into the
enemy's lines, he had grown more earnest and
thoughtful ; every night I saw him kneel in prayer,
and on his bronzed face was stamped that compos-
ure by which an observer may recognize those who
have been constantly in places of peril.
" I shall be glad when I get away from this and
take my place in the army once more," I said after
a moment's pause.
Jed reflected a moment, and then said, " I too
shall be glad to get into our lines, but as yet I am
undecided what to do. I have probably been
missed by the rebels by this time. The only chance
I have of not being detected is in the slipshod man-
ner in which the business of the Confederate army
is managed."
" There must be a great deal of danger to you
here," I replied.
Jed's voice deepened with earnestness as he re-
plied, " Yes ! there is danger everywhere in the
army to men who do their duty, but a man's danger
is always increased by losing his nerve. If he
keeps his eyes open there are chances to escape
from the worst situations."
Shortly after the foregoing conversation I was
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 18B
endeavoring to sell or trade a forage cap to the
Confederate guard. To secure the trade, as there
was some hesitation on the part of the young fel-
low to pay so much as twenty-five dollars, even in
Confederate money, I made a pencil sketch of him
with the cap on, and held the drawing up for him
to see how he looked with the new article of dress.
Though the di-awing was something of a carica-
ture of a portrait, the Confederate soldier was more
struck by the picture than by the cap.
" What'll ye take for that Yankee fixin' ? " he
inquired.
I replied unblushingly, " Five dollars."
After I had written his name, company, and regi-
ment on it he paid the ptice asked, and seemed
delighted with the picture.
After this I could afford to cheapen the cap ;
we speedily closed the trade, and I walked off twen-
ty-five dollars richer in Confederate money.
This little incident, seemingly so unimportant,
bore fruits out of proportion to the incident itself.
The Confederate guard showed his picture to his
comrades, and I soon found myself busy in making
alleged likenesses of Confederate soldiers of the
guard, at good prices.
The sergeant of the guard, whose picture I had
made, passed me in and out to the camp south of
the prison, and introduced me to the guard who
succeeded him. Pones of Indian cake, bacon, and
other delicacies, as well as Confederate money,
184 JED'S ADVENTURES.
were given me in exchange for my pictures. Under
these drawings I often scribbled verses from Moore
for those who wished to send them to their wives
and sweethearts, and by this means I got enough
to eat.
While at the guard-quarters one day a request
came from one of the men for a picture. I did not
then know the insignia of rank in the Confederate
army, and, as my subject had no shoulder-straps, I
supposed him to be a private, or, at most, a sergeant.
The insignificant stripes of gold braid on his collar
I supposed meant nothing more than an ambitious
attempt at ornament, so common among the Con-
federate soldiers I had met. The soldier was well
educated, and once, wh^ I wished to sharpen my
pencil, I said carelessly, "Let me take your knife."
He corrected my English by saying, " No, I will not
let you ' take my knife,' but I will loan you my
knife." By dint of care I really made a creditable
likeness of him, with which he appeared pleased.
As was my custom, upon finishing it I asked him
if I should put his name, rank, and company under
it. "No," said he, as he took my pencil from my
hand, writing his name in a beautiful round hand,
and adding " Captain of Company — , 22d Ala."
I asked him why he did not wear shoulder-straps,
whereupon he pointed out the difference between
the "old army," as he called it, and the Confederate
manner of designating rank. He was a manly fel-
low, with a certain dignity which he wore easily
Belle Isle in 1802: Making the portrait. — Page 184.
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 185
and. lightly, as if habituated to command. He
never spoke to his men above the ordinary tones
of conversation, and in this he was like West Point
officers I had encountered. This was so striking
that I mentioned it.
'' Very naturally,'' he replied ; " I was in West
Point, and but for this unfortunate war should
have graduated. You have the manners of a man
who has seen much service," said he, " though you
are but young."
I explained this by giving him an outline of my
service in the army previous to the war.
"I'd like to take you up to camp with me very
much," said he, making a gesture towards the hill
at the west of the prison camp.
'' I am afraid they woulcbi't like it up there," I
replied.
" Oh, yes, they would. I'd see to that," he re-
plied.
I did not then understand the bearing of his re-
marks, but the next day I was telling the incident
to Jed, when, noticing a quizzical expression on
his face, I said, "What is it? Out with it, Jed.
What are you laughing in your sleeve at me for?"
I was not prepared for Jed's reply.
" Didn't you understand he was trying to recruit
you for the Confederate army?" It flashed upon
me now for the first time, and, to put it mildly, I
was astonished at the officer's assurance.
"I know the man very well," said Jed, " and his
186 JED'S ADVENTURES.
estimate of a Yankee is so low that he will not
easily give over tiying to recrnit you for the Con-
federate service. If you go over to the camp he
will accept it as a token that you are considering
the matter, and if you keep away he will send into
camp for you, and my safety will be endangered.
If he remembers the story I told of my previous
service he may connect you with me ; and, even if
he does not, it is likely to be dangerous for me
here."
Seeing a shadow of chagrin come over my face,
Jed put his hand affectionately on my shoulder and
said, '' Don't put on that blue look, Dick. It is all
for the best, for had I not known of this regiment
being on guard I was likely to betray myself.
' ForcAvarned, forearmed,' as your aunt used to say
when you first insisted on being friends with
me."
This little bit of reminiscence made me laugh,
as my aunt, at my first acquaintance with Jed, usu-
ally accompanied this saying Avith ominous pre-
dictions of his future career.
" It is fortunate," continued Jed, " that this fact
is known to me before I commit myself, for it
has been rumored for some days that there is to
be a parole of prisoners, and I intended, in that
event, to fall in and give my parole with the others
and run the risk ; but this puts it out of the ques-
tion. I must take some other course."
'' What will you do ? " I inquired, but Jed made
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 187
no other reply than to smile and shake his head as
if he had not really made up his mind on that point.
As Jed had predicted, the captain did not give
up the plan he had formed to recruit me for the
Confederate service. He promised to obtain for me
a commission, and argued that the Confederac}^
would soon be acknowledged by England and
France, if it was not already, ''and then every man
who fights for us will be made independent." My
decided but good-natured answers that "I was
born a Yank, and intended to die a Yank," made it
hard for him to urge me further.
I reported this conversation to Jed, who said, —
" That is the best way ; if you gave him any en-
couragement it would make it disagreeable for
you."
In a few days after this, the expected parole of
prisoners really began. I was called out to write on
the parole papers, and on returning in the evening
found that Jed had disappeared from camp.
He had left a note for me with a mutual ac-
quaintance ; I opened it, and read, —
Dear Dick, — Don't be uneasy or worried about me. The
less you inquire for me or look after me, the better.
Jed.
I turned away, heavy-hearted at thoughts of
marching to our lines on the morrow, leaving Jed
in the hands of the enemy.
The paroles were all completed by nine o'clock
188 JED'S ADVENTURES,
the next morning. I was standing at the place
where I had been writing, near a one-stoiy building,
previous to the war a church, but now used for a
commissary office. I met the captain of the 22d
Alabama, who shook hands with me, and said, —
" Since you won't be a Confederate I am glad,
for your sake, you are going home."
Just then I heard what I thought was Jed's
voice, saying, '' Yes, we are going to our lines."
I turned, and near me stood a broad-shouldered,
dark-whiskered fellow with an empty sleeve, who,
in reply to a question I put to him, said in unmis-
takable Irish brogue, —
" Sure it's glad I am to be going to the Union ! "
AYe began our march ; passed through Man-
chester, where sad-faced women came out from
their homes, and gave us cakes, and filled our can-
teens, and spoke kind words ; passed through
Richmond, with its now silent and almost deserted
streets, and after a hard all-day's march reached
Aiken's Landing, in sight of the flag-of-truce boat,
from which floated the stars and stripes.
Though no rations had been issued to us during
the entire day, we here received a plentiful supply,
and were contented to look up to the dear old flag,
never so dear as now, while tears ran down faces
unused to tears, from simple joy at being delivered
from our prison.
On the afternoon of the next day we landed at
Annapolis, and were marched to parole camp.
A GLIMPSE OF BELLE ISLE. 189
Here I took up my quarters near a sutler's shop.
I had but few acquaintances among the prisoners,
and by reason of my long imprisonment was desti-
tute of many necessities to make me comfortable.
As I stood doubtfully musing, a voice like Jed's
aroused me from my reverie. Looking up, I saw
the Irish soldier standing before me.
" It's a foine thing to be once more in the Union,
sor," said he.
"Yes, Pat," said I, "but"— and here I looked
around. " I could almost swear I heard a friend's
voice just now ! "
" And faith ye did, me bye ! " said the supposed
Irishman ; thi'owing back his coat-collar which he
had worn turned up, and coolly removing a false
beard, to my astonishment, Jed stood before me. I
held out my hand, when from under his coat, where
dangled an unfilled coat-sleeve, he extended his
hand to meet mine.
Our army at tliis time was at Antietam, and Jed,
who the next morning got an interview with the col-
onel commanding the camp, was soon on his way
to Washington, with important information which
he had gained within the rebel lines.
CHAPTER XVIII.
IN THE PAROLE CAIVIP.
A T the time of m}- arrival at the parole camp
^^-^ my clothing was very ragged and dirty;
the natural results of being in the Confederacy
nearly four months without change of garments.
An Irish comrade not inaptly described my cos-
tume as " principally composed of fresh air."
My chief ambition at that time was to expel cer-
tain familiar invaders from my clothing, and to
obtain an army blanket.
Here let me explain that a ragged soldier was
treated with as much discourtesy as a ragged citi-
zen.
If better dressed men listened to statements from
such at all, it was with incredulity, as if the fact of
their raggedness was discreditable beyond expla-
nation, and that the only acceptable apology for
such a condition Avas a speedy change to a new or
a better suit. Hence though the facts which led
• to my poverty Avere in no wise discreditable to me,
yet, as I could not conveniently convene a court
of inquiry to show that I was guiltless of malice
aforethought, that poverty brought me into dis-
credit. I visited the quarters of the colonel com-
190
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. 191
manding the camp, and requested that I might be
supplied with clothing. The response was, that
no such supplies had been issued to that camp.
I had written to my aunt that I had reached our
lines from the rebel prisons, and needed money,
but received no reply for many days. At the
thought that my friends, even, had deserted me, I
became despondent.
The food provided for the parole camp was such
as is usually issued to soldiers, but the craving for
luxuries was now as great as hitherto the desire
had been for necessities.
The want of respect shown me, even by my
ragged associates, chagrined and angered me. I
could not understand why I was not entitled to
the same consideration among my fellows as when
my uniform was bright and clean, and my position
assured.
I was in this vexed and fretful mood when, on
my way to the commanding officer's quarters to
plead again for blankets and clothing, I noticed
before me a tall, ragged, angular soldier, whose
gait and manner seemed familiar. I was cudgel-
ling my brain to establish some connecting link of
acquaintance between this person and myself,
when he arrived at the colonel's office, and burst "
out in a roar of indignant inquiry, —
" See here, air you the colonel ? "
" Yes : what is it you wish, my man ? " said that
personage, in sharp and forbidding tones.
192 JED'S ADVENTURES.
" What do I want? Why, colonel, I want most
everything ! I've been kicked around in this place
nigh on to three weeks. I want some clothes and
a blanket, and I want to get home or go to my
regiment. I'll be blamed if I don't want every-
thing, from the foundation to the upper story,
and this is the wust place to ' git 'em ' I ever
see."
The manner of the speaker was so ludicrous and
impatient, and liis growl of complaint so thunder-
ous, that I could not help laughing heartily, not-
withstanding the sym^^athy I had felt on account
of the similarity of our errand and condition, and
more especially as I recognized him as Sonny, the
dismounted cavalryman, whom I have more than
once mentioned in this narrative.
There was no satisfaction to be had from the
colonel, as it was plain he could not give us what
he did not himself possess. He had been so much
annoyed by similar requests that he was not very
sweet in his replies to ragged applicants.
The government was at this time endeavoring
to supply the " Army of the Potomac " with cloth-
ing, of which they were sadly in need after the
battle of Antietam, and so but little heed was paid
to those who (like ourselves) were not in active
service.
Sonny recognized me at once, and as we turned
away he growled in his deepest bass, —
^' This is Camp Destitution, this is ! '*
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. iS§
On my remarking that I thought there was
enough to eat, he assented, saying, —
" Yes, enough of common stuff, sich as hard-tack
and pork, but after a man has been in Libby Prison
he sort o' wants some fine grub to fill up the
chinks with. This is a tough place to get any-
thing. I can't git a letter from hum, and can't
git no clothes and no nuthin' ! "
I told Sonny that I had been unable to get any
money, or even replies to my letters. " I believe
some one up to the camp post-office steals the let-
ters that have money in them," said Sonny.
I had never thought of this before, but was half
inclined to believe that Sonny's view was correct,
and this suoforested a new idea to me.
" Why not write and have our letters addressed
to us at Annapolis, instead of the parole camp ? "
I said.
"Well, now, that's a good idea," said Sonny,
looking skyward, as if it had something to do with
the weather instead of the mails.
" I'll write right off." So as Sonny had a little
money, which he proposed to share with me in the
venture, we bought paper, envelopes, and postage
stamps at the sutler's ; we wrote our letters, and
mailed them at the camp post-office.
I was about to part with Sonny when he in-
quired, —
" Where are yer stoppin' ? "
I told him, and he accompanied me to my quar-
194 JEb'S ADVMNftfM^^.
ters, which were in an A tent occupied in common
with several other ex-prisoners.
" Sho ! " said Sonny, contemptuously viewing
the premises, "I can beat this. I've got a tent,
an old overcoat, and a ragged blanket, and all to
myself."
I inquired how it happened that he occupied a
tent alone.
" Well, you see, my chums complained when they
was put into the same tent with me. I'd got to
double up like the letter Z, or leave my legs out-
doors in the cold ; and when I did double up like the
last of the A B C's, I lay sort of zig-zag acrost the
hull tent," said Sonny, with a wink and a grin which
suggested that he could have improved the situa-
tion if he had tried.
" I should have thought they would have kicked
you out," said I.
"Wall, they did try it," said Sonny, and then
relapsed into silence, as if he preferred to let the
fact of his possession of the tent tell its own story.
So I took up my quarters with Sonny, and a bet-
ter-hearted or more genial comrade I could not
have wished.
" I've got some sweet potatoes and chicken for
dinner," said Sonny, on the day I joined my for-
tunes with his.
"How did you buy them?" I inquired, amazed
at such wealth.
" Buy ! " exclaimed Sonny, in a tone of derision.
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. 195
"Why, bunkie, there's splendid foraging 'mong
these ' secesh ' around here."
As I made no answer Sonny continued, "You
see, with most of our boys, every one who has got
chickens or such things is a 'secesh,' but I believe
in makin' some difference. I don't mean to touch a
thing that I know belongs to a Union man. I don't
sa}" I ain't liable to mistakes, though, when I am
awful hungry. But when I know a man is a rebel
I don't care a bit what I take from liis farm ; least-
wise," said Sonny (with a qualifying clause), "if
he don't use his shotgun too promiscuously. I
am going out to git some sweet 'taters to-night.
There's an old fellow out here that's the most out-
rageous ' secesh ' there is in the county, and he keeps
a shotgun, tew, and threatens to shoot the fust Yank
that dares dig a 'tater or touch a chicken on his
place. If you'll go out with me we'll have some
fun."
I confess I could not see much fun in the pro-
gramme outlined ; besides, I had conscientious
scruples against getting potatoes in this manner.
But hunger is a powerful incentive, and often fur-
nishes more arguments for evil-doing than it gets
credit for. So as night came on, half hesitating, I
started out with Sonny for the sweet-potato field.
I had one haversack, but Sonny had two.
It was evening when we arrived at the scene of
our adventures. The planter's house stood on a
hill, while in the intervale below, a short distance
196 JED'S ADVENTURES.
from the road, there were one or two acres of
sweet-potato vines.
It was quite dark as we began silently and
stealthily to fill our haversacks. I had almost for-
gotten my objections to this method of procuring
supplies, when my conscience was suddenly re-
stored by the report of a double-barrelled shot-
gun.
Not desiring any further statement of the owner's
wishes regarding his sweet potatoes, I at once took
to the road and travelled, but Sonny obstinately
refused to accompany me, saying he would meet
me on the cross-road.
The cross-road was about a mile from the scene
of the encounter, but the frequent reports of the
planter's shotgun assisted me to reach it in a very
short time.
On my arrival I kindled a fire, with rails for fuel,
and awaited anxiously the return of Sonny.
The soldiers of the army, while prompted by
hunger to forage in this manner, were in the habit
of reasoning that they were in an enemy's country,
and therefore had a right to confiscate provisions ;
while, if among friends, the soldiers considered
themselves their defenders, and thus entitled to as
much as they needed.
The loose joint in this iron-clad reasoning was,
that the exponents of these views preferred '' dark-
ness rather than light," while availing themselves
of their assumed rights.
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. 1S7
I was in the midst of reflections of this char-
acter, and was in the act of depositing some sweet
potatoes in the ashes to cook, when Sonny came
up Avith his face covered with blood, but with both
haversacks bulging out with provender.
I uttered aloud exclamation at sight of his bloody
face, which Sonny calmly explained by saying,
^' That old scamp filled me with pigeon-shot. I be-
lieve I should have run if I hadn't been under fire
before. I'll git even with him. I won't leave a
sweet potato nor a chicken on his place."
" Don't you think, Sonny, that we were really
stealing those potatoes ? " I inquired.
" Sho ! how you talk ! We were foraging, —
sort of informally, of course, — and if that ole feller
can prove a claim, and prove his loyalty alongside
of his claim, he can collect his bill of Uncle Sam
just as slick as grease."
" Well," argued I, " Uncle Sam provides us with
rations, and, according to your views, he is liable
to pay an additional bill for these potatoes. If we
have got justice on our side, why not go by day-
light and help ourselves ? "
'' Well," said Sonny, '' I usually go in the night
to save time, and because it isn't best to harrow up
these rebs' feelings needlessly. We air commanded
to love our enemies. I find it purty hard work to
do that, since I come out of Libby Prison, so I come
as near to it as possible, and love their chickens
and sweet potatoes. Yer can't expect a man who
198 JED'S ADVENTURES.
is just out of their miserable holes to do more than
that, can yer? "
This speech was followed by a low, hoarse
chuckle, not unlike distant thunder, which showed
that Sonny was arguing more for fun than from
conviction.
That night we slept under a haystack, and in
the morning Sonny was scarcely able to walk, be-
cause of a pigeon shot which had lodged under his
kneejDan. This prevented his getting around camp
much for several weeks.
There were about two thousand men in the
parole camp at Annapolis, at this time. Up to this
period, we had been allowed to visit the city, which
was not more than a mile and a half from camp.
Now, however, a new sutler with a large stock of
goods had built a long, low building, one part of
which was a dining-room, and the other a store or
salesroom. Whether by arrangement with the
colonel or by some strange coincidence, all passes
to go to town were then cut off; a strict guard
was established around the camp, and the prices at
the sutler's were made almost double those for-
merly asked; and as a consequence, the paroled
prisoners were as angry as hornets.
Sonny, who, cut off from foraging, was now op-
pressed with more than his usual hunger, hav-
ing in some unexplained way got a dollar, declared
his intention of having " one good square meal " at
the sutler's.
In the parole camp. l9d
Some twenty minutes after Sonny entered the
sutler's, we saw him being forcibly ejected. He
was very angry, and excitedly explained that he
had sat down to eat after paying a dollar for his
dinner, and that some officers had come in and
seated themselves at the same table, and then he
had been told he could not eat at the same table
with officers.
" I said to that sutler man, ' Ain't that dollar a
good one ? ' he said, ' Yes.' ' Well then, I'm going
to have a dinner ! ' and," continued Sonny, roaring
oratorically, " I'm a son of Maine, a freeman, and
a soldier of the Union, and was choked off at that
' shebang ' in the act of eating a chicken ! "
Sonny was hot and angry, and his anger was
contagious ; as he had been abused by a common
enemy, — the sutler, — he soon had many cham-
pions, and the sutler many enemies. One of the
former made a furious speech, telling the incident
of Sonny's ejection after paying for a dinner, and
before eating it. The crowd became furious, and,
turning upon the sutler's shop, tore it down, dis-
tributing its contents in less time than it has taken
me to write about it.
The Pennsylvania Reserves, who made up the
camp guard, w^ere brought out and ordered to fire,
but it did no good. They understood the situa-
tion, and were in sympathy with the ex-prisoners.
One of them would say in loud tones, to a prisoner
with a box of tobacco, " Drop that, you scoundrel,
200 JED'S ADVENTURE^.
you! " and then in lower tones would add, " Put
some in my pocket."
Sonny got enough of these goods to appease any
ordinary anger, but he still bewailed his loss, that,
in the act of eating a chicken, he had been kicked
out of the sutler's dining-room.
He was going on in this way when I ventured
to suggest that perhaps he had already eaten a
dollar's worth before they invented an excuse to
choke him off. Sonny protested that he " Hadn't
scarcely eaten nuthin' wdien the rumpus begun !
There w^as about half a pot of beans, and a loaf of
brown bread, and butter, and a few such things
that I had eaten, and had just got down to solid
work on that chicken when they choked me off."
And as Sonny showed symptoms of getting angry,
I dared not quiz him any more.
Thinking it was about time for the letters which
I had asked to have directed to Annapolis, to
arrive, I applied for a pass to go to the city. It
was refused. I was told that I could give orders
to have my letters sent to the camp post-office.
That night I '^ ran the guard," reached Annap-
olis, and slept under a shed near the wharf until
morning. I then went to the post-office, but found
it closed. I inquired of a soldier why the office
was not open. He laughed, and replied laconically,
"Sunday." So much had one day been like
another, in parole camp as well as in prison, that
I had lost my reckoning of the days of the week.
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. 201
I was hungry, and not knowing where my break-
fast was coming from, I nervously w^alked the
streets, planning what to do next.
Thus meditating, I ran against an officer who
was hobbling up the street on crutches, and almost
knocked him off his feet. I turned to apologize,
when I found myself face to face with Captain
Gruff. I was so overjoyed at sight of him, that I
could only hold out my hands and cry like a
child.
He put liis hand into his pocket, and answered
my appeal by handing me some fractional cur-
rency, which was then in use. He did not
know me.
"Soldier, vat is the matter?" interrogated the
old soldier, in his stern, military tones.
"Don't you know me. Captain Gruff? Don't
you know Dick Nickerson?" I exclaimed.'
The captain recognized my voice, and his whole
manner changed ; something rose up in his throat
and choked his voice, while tears came to his eyes,
as he said, —
" My poor poy, my poor poy ! too pad, too pad !
Vat have they done to you?"
I briefly told him my story and Jed's.
" Veil, Dick, you must have somethin' to vare
first, and then somethin' to eat," and with this he
hurried me around a corner where a Jew was keej)-
ing open shop, thrust a roll of bills into my hand,
and, giving me directions to find his quarters at
202 JED'S ADVENTURES.
the Naval Hospital, he started off to get me up a
spread, or, as he called it, a " goot tinner."
I bought a fine suit of citizen's clothes,, including
shirts, collar and neck-tie, boots, and a nice forage
cap, such as officers wear, — the only article of
military goods in his shop, — and with these in a
bundle I went to a hotel where a barber's shop and
bathroom were open.
I first got a shave, had my hair cut, and then in-
quired, " Can I get a bath ? " and received the
answer, " Yes, if you can pay in advance for it."
I think I never enjoyed anything more than that
bath. I rolled my old rags into a bundle, got into
my new suit, and was my old self again. How
glorious to be clean and well dressed !
The clothes fitted me nicely, and as I once more
entered the main room to view myself in the glass,
the proprietor bowed to me respectfully, saying,
"The price of your bath, sir, if you please."
" I paid for it in advance, as you requested," I
replied.
" Good heavens ! " he exclaimed, amazed at my
transformation, " you are not the man who went
into No. 7, are you ? "
Bowing my acknowledgment of the fact, I went
on my way to Captain Gruff's quarters, impressed
for the first time at the power of dress among men.
Captain Gruff was pleased with my appearance,
and introduced me to his friends. After dinner I
narrated my experience and adventures, and the
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. 203
noble part Jed had taken in my rescue from sick-
ness and death at Belle Isle.
Captain Gruff's eyes filled with tears, and his
ordinarily firm hand trembled as he filled his pipe,
while he exclaimed, '' Ah, dot Jed ! He's a fine
poy, a fine poy. He saves me from being one hog
of a trunkard. Shentlemen, I loves dot poy, and
dot's de reason I vill not trink mit you sometimes
ven you asks me. I feel as if I could not look into
dot poy's goot eyes if I tid."
There was not an officer at the table but that
respected him for this, for the silent tribute of a
tear was seen on their faces at the touch of nature
in the brave old soldier, who, even in the midst of
carnage, danger, and death, seldom showed emotion.
The captain now told me his experience at the
second battle of Bull Run. The regiments under
Hooker had attacked Jackson in the railroad cut,
and there he had been wounded.
He told me that my aunt had written to him at
different times to make inquiries for me, and that
her grief was very great at my being a prisoner.
"And, Dick, dot leetle voman has lost all her
money vich she invested mit dot Squire Weston,"
said Gruff pathetically.
I was a different person, in my own estimation,
as I retraced my steps towards parole camp the
next morning. Walking up to the colonel's quar-
ters, I saluted that officer, who did not recognize
in me the ragged sup^^liant who had besieged his
204 , JED'S ADVENTURES.
quarters for a month past. He arose, shook my
hand cordially, and invited me to take a seat in his
office.
" I am a paroled prisoner, colonel, but do not
wish to take up my quarters among the other dirty
prisoners."
He was kind enough to appreciate my feelings,
and invited me to accept a blanket in his own
tent. I not only accepted this offer, but also that
of a clerkship offered me in the office.
Not long after I had been installed as clerk, I
heard the familiar voice of Sonny, deep and vibrant
as thunder. '' Say, Cap, ain't I never goin' to git
a blanket nor nothin' ? "
Seeing that he did not recognize me, I could not
resist having some fun at his expense. So I re-
plied, " There's an old man about three miles from
here, up the Baltimore road, ^vllo says that a big
fellow with two haversacks has carried off a lot of
his sweet potatoes, and some of his pigeon shot."
Sonny's amazement can better be imagined than
described. His confusion was so great that he
could hardly speak, but he finally burst out with
the exclamation, ''It's a thunderin' lie. Cap. I
ain't touched a sweet potato belonging to no one,
— leastwise, none of any good Union man ; besides,
I'm lame, and couldn't git eout to a potato patch if
I tried."
" At what battle were you wounded? " I inquired.
** During the Peninsula fights I was wounded
IN THE PAROLE CAMP. 205
and tuck prisoner." All of which the reader knows
to be true.
" Was that where you got that pigeon shot under
your knee ? " I inquired gravely.
To see Sonny's mouth open, and eyes protrude,
in amazement was too much for my gravity. When
I could control my face again I said, " Don't mind
my teasing, Sonny. Here is an order for a suit of
clothes and a blanket. Some clothing came in this
morning, and this is the first order issued."
Sonny then recognized me, but could hardly be-
lieve his senses. " Gosh ! " he said, "how did you
'ring in' with the colonel and get your meetin'
clothes ? Say, Dick, put me up to it, and I'll git
some tu."
If I did not help Sonny in this way, I did in
others, such as giving his chronic hunger a chance at
the colonel's cook's quarters, and loaning him money.
On my visits to Captain Gruff at the Naval Hos-
pital he urged me to go home as soon as I could
get a furlough, and attend to my aunt's affairs. I
had written to her again shortly after meeting Cap-
tain Gruff, and had received a reply saying that she
had sent money to me at the parole camp after
receiving my fii^st letter, but that she had not sent
much, as she had but very little. She had in-
trusted all her money to Squire Weston, for which
she had taken no receipt, and since then the squire
had declared that she had not deposited a cent in
his hands for investment.
CHAPTER XIX.
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME.
SOON after the incidents recorded in the fore-
going chapter, I received a letter from Jed,
informing me that he was in the parole camp near
Alexandria, Va. When, a little later, a large num-
ber of our prisoners were transferred to that camp,
I obtained permission to go with them, and was
soon with Jed again.
The parole camp at Alexandria Avas situated on
the level plain northwest of, and near, the city. It
was well kept, and was often visited by the women
of the " Sanitary Commission," who furnished the
newly arrived and ragged prisoners with needed
articles of clothing, and sometimes with luxuries
in the way of food. Jed was very enthusiastic in
his praise of these women, whose devotion to suf-
fering soldiers was so much in 'contrast with the
selfish sentiments of many he had encountered
around Washington.
" To be a Christian," said Jed thoughtfully,
when speaking of these women, " is to be Christ-
like ; and to be like Him is to forget one's self in
care and love for others. When we really love
20a
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME. 207
Him it is natural to forget ourselves, because that
love is so great there is no room for any other
love ; " and as Jed continued speaking, his face
shone with the transfiguring light of the Master's
love.
I showed Jed my aunt's letter, and it was agreed
that if possible we would obtain furloughs and go
home to see our friends, and call Lawyer Weston to
an account for the loss of my aunt's money.
Aunt Tempy's letters gave us a confused and
what Jed termed a '^ mixed account " of her affairs,
as if she hardly understood in what manner or for
what purposes she had intrusted her money to
Squire Weston.
That very day we each made an application for
a thirty days' furlough, which was indorsed by the
colonel commanding, and forwarded to Washing-
ton, with the recommendation that it be granted.
We waited anxiously three weeks, when our ap-
plications came back to headquarters with various
indorsements in red and black ink across the folded
document, and looking, Jed laughingly declared, as
if the entire clerical force of the War Department
had been put at work upon it.
The principal indorsement on each, however,
was, ''The within application for a furlough can-
not be granted, as the within-named soldier is a
' paroled prisoner of war.' "
We did not understand the significance of this
indorsement, except that our request was refused ;
208 JED'S ADVENTURES,
and we were discussing the probable meaning of
the refusal, somewhat loudly, after the manner of
boy soldiers, when a rough-featured captain, whom
we recognized as being connected with the camp,
stopped and inquired in pleasant tones, —
" What is it, boys ? "
Jed showed him the document, and asked, —
" Does the fact of our being paroled prisoners
debar us from receiving a furlough ? "
'' Why, as near as I can understand the matter,"
said Captain Jones, " the cartel or agreement now
in force between the Confederates and the United
States is, that no exchange of prisoners among
those paroled is to take place until the government
holding the smallest number has swapped all the
prisoners they have on hand ; the balance of the
prisoners in the hands of the other government are
paroled or turned over to the parties tliey belonged
to, and held, as it were, in trust, and to be fed and
cared for, until declared exchanged by both
parties.
" Our position is this ; the Confederates had more
prisoners than the United States, and the paroled
prisoners, here and elsewhere, represent that sur-
plus, for which the United States are responsible
to the so-called Confederate government."
" Then we've got to stay here until ' Uncle Sam '
can catch enough rebs to swap for us ? " said Jed.
" Yes, that's exactly it ! " said the captain,
smiling.
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME. 209
" What regiment do you belong to ? " inquired
the captain.
We told him, at which he said, " It was one of
the best regiments in the service."
"- 1 don't know that I want to go back to my
regiment anyway, if it is a crack regiment ! " said
Jed, exchanging a glance with me.
A frown came over the captain's face, as he
roughly responded, " I suppose you mean to shirk
or desert, then ? "
I explained to him Jed's situation, — that he had
been in the enemy's lines for information, and that
it had been debated between us whether it was best
for him to go back to his old regiment or get trans-
ferred to some other.
" Oh ! I see," said the captain, smiling once more,
" if he is captured while belonging to the same
regiment he might be identified as a spy and
hanged ! Come into my regiment, boys, if you can
get your transfer ; good regiment ! and I'm going
back to my company as soon as I'm exchanged.""
" I have not decided," replied Jed : " there's
danger to every one who does his duty in the army,
and it makes but little difference where we fall."
" Ah ! " said the captain, " a man never loves
his country so dearly as when he constantly puts
himself up to be shot for her ; and we seem to
love a cause just in proportion to what we give
to it."
" Greater love hath no man than this, that he
210 JED'S ADVENTURES.
giveth his life for another," softly repeated Jed with
that self-communing look, wliich at times seemed
to come from a light within, upon his face.
"Humph!" said the captain gruffly. "There
is no one I should like to fight as well as I do these
rebs; I'm not bloodthirsty, but I feel as if I were
fighting for the Union and in God's service," and
the captain turned away.
It was in December that we were declared ex-
changed, and ordered to report for duty with our
regiment, now lying at Falmouth, before Fred-
ericksburg.
"This won't do," said Jed; "there's not likely
to be any fighting during the winter months, and
we must get a furlough to see to your aunt's affairs."
" ' Must ' is a good word, but ' How,' armed with
an interrogation point, stands on guard," I re-
spbnded.
" I'm acquainted with Secretary Stanton ; he's
a first-rate man, and I think he will do something
for us if I ask him," said Jed simply.
I turned to Jed to see whether he was demented
or joking, for this was the first time he had men-
tioned the great Secretary of War. Jed then ex-
plained to me that, on leaving Annapolis, he had
had an interview with Secretary Stanton, who had
treated him very kindly, and, as Jed said, had asked
him more questions than Captain Gruff asked from
the manual in the " School of the Soldier."
We obtained a pass to go to Washington to get
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME. 211
from the War Department, if possible, the required
furlough. A guard stood at the door of the War
Office, and halted us as we approached.
" No one allowed to pass here," crisply explained
the guard, in answer to our questions.
" I want to see the Secretary of War," said Jed.
" Rles of people been here saying the same thing,"
replied the guard, as stiffly as his Western manners
would allow.
Just then a man rushed by us, who was halted
as peremptorily as we had been, by the sentry in-
terposing his musket in front of him.
" Let me pass," angrily roared the man, in a deep
voice.
The person thus brought to bay was a short,
stout old man, with a large head, and iron-gray
hair and beard which bristled out at many angles,
while every feature worked with irritable impa-
tience.
Jed touched this man on the shoulder, and said
respectfully, "I have come to see you again,
sir."
The person thus addressed turned slowly towards
Jed, as if in suppressed anger, but, to my surprise,
on seeing Jed the expression of his face softened,
as he extended his hand with a pleasant smile.
Turning to the sentinel, he said, in his deep
tones, " I am the Secretary of War : let me pass
with these gentlemen." The guard brought his
musket to a salute, and we passed into the office.
212 JED'S ADVENTURES.
The secretary turned to Jed, and im]3atiently,
but without anger, said, "Where did you go a
month ago, after leaving this office ? "
" I gave you my information, then reported to
the provost-marshal, who sent me to the parole
camp at Alexandria. I have now returned to ask
a favor for myself and friend," replied Jed grfv^ely.
*' Ask it," said the secretary pleasantly.
" We want a furlough."
Turning to me slowly, instead of replying to Jed,
he brusquely asked, " What are you doing in citi-
zen's clothes, sir? "
I explained to him my condition when I came
from Belle Isle, and the impossibility of obtain-
ing any clothing at the parole camp at An-
napolis.
Dashing his glasses from his eyes with a gesture
of impatience, he jerked at the bell-cord hanging
from the ceiling of the office, which rang a noisy
bell. An officer from an adjoining room answered
the call, and to him the secretary gave orders for
an inquiry to be made into the condition of pris-
oners at the parole camp at Annapolis.
The secretary then, without further notice of
me, turned to Jed, and, putting his hand on his
shoulder, said, " You are but a boy, but you have
acted a man's part, and a brave one at that. I can-
not do too much for brave boys like you. Your
furloughs will be made out and forwarded to the
parole camp at once."
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME, 213
We were soon at home. How familiar the streets
looked as we passed on tlirough the village ! We
reached my aunt's house and knocked. No response.
We knocked still louder, but no answer came to
our summons. We went around by the back
veranda and peered into the kitchen windows.
The kitchen was deserted, and no furniture or
stove.
"She has moved," said Jed.
"• Let us go over to Silas Eaton's and inquire," I
suggested.
Here a stranger came to the door, and to all our
questions replied, " Don't know."
We then started for the village to make inquiries.
On our way a dog rushed out of a yard barking
furiously, but suddenly ceased, and began leaping
first on one and then on the other of us, with frantic
whines and yelps. It was Mink. After caressing
him with extravagant demonstrations, second only
to those of the dog, Jed said, '' If Mink came out of
that house your aunt is there, too ; " and we started
up the yard, but before we could reach the door my
aunt came rushing out of the house with her apron
over her head, and almost rivalled Mink in her
demonstrations of delig'ht.
" Why don't you live in your own house ? " I
inquired of my aunt.
Pausing in her joyful congratulations she burst
into tears, and began to " take on," as Jed called
it.
214 JED'S ADVENTURES.
It was some time before she could tell me her
troubles.
She had mortgaged her house to Lawyer Weston,
to get money to invest in bonds recommended b}^
him. The mortgage had been foreclosed, and
Squire "Weston denied that he had ever received
any money from her. He had not turned her out
of her house, but had sent her word that she might
live there free of rent, but this she had angrily
refused to do.
" And," continued my aunt, " I took that check
you sent to me, and hired this little cottage.
I don't know what I should have done but for
that money."
Jed glanced inquiringly at me, because he knew
that I had not sent the check, as I had been paid
off only three days previous to leaving the parole
camp.
" How did the check come ? " I inquired.
" In an envelope," replied my aunt, not seeming
to notice the significance of my question, and she
continued, —
" Here's the envelope ; it wasn't nice in you,
Dick, not to write when you sent the money."
We looked at the envelope, which was post-
marked Annapolis. The writing, though like
mine, was unmistakably that of Captain Gruff.
The generous old captain had sent the money
which my aunt believed had come from me. We
did not undeceive her, and she was so overjoyed at
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME. 215
our return that she did not notice the lameness of
my reply.
The sentiment with which soldiers were regarded
had changed since we were last in our little town.
Then it was fashionable to pet and compliment
them ; at this stage of the Avar, however, soldiers
had become too common to be looked upon as
heroes, especially by those who were not a little
ashamed that they had not illustrated their talka-
tive patriotism by going to the froiit.
As we passed on to the principal business street
of the village, a new shop with plate-glass windows
arrested our attention. Looking up to the sign
we read, '^ Silas Eaton, Ladies and Gents' Shoes."
We entered and accosted the proprietor, who now
wore a funereal suit of shining black clothes, and
a stiff, laundried collar. Though Silas had left the
shoe-bench, he was not changed for the better ; his
face had the same querulous snarled-up look — as
Jed called it, and his manner was as dogmatic as
usual.
"We didn't expect to find you at home, Silas ! "
I remarked. "• We thought to find you planning
campaigns and leading our soldiers at the front."
'' No," said Silas, " I ain't gone yet, 'cause, ye
see, I think I can do more good at home. I did
have a kmd o' notion of goin' out as an officer,
'cause the pay was good; but I got ter makin'
money here like smoke, and I'm more use here
than if I was fitin'."
216 JED'S ADVENTURES.
" Whatever else has occurred," said Jed tartly,
" you are neither an officer nor a [here he hesitated
as if he had started to say gentleman] private."
" Du you tliink this war will hold on till spring? "
inquired Silas.
I answered, " Yes."
" Well," said Silas, with a look of relief, " if it
duz I shall be quite forehanded. You see that
new house out there ? " pointing to a large, pre-
tentious residence. "Well, that house is mine, the
next one tu it is Lawyer Weston's, and the 'tother
one belongs to William Tucker, the shoe manu-
facturer. He's my partner, and we've got a
profitable contract for shoes, so you see we do our
part towards helpin' on the war."
"Yes," said Jed, "you combine profit with pa-
triotism."
We afterwards learned that the firm used paste-
board, ground leather, and other shoddy stock in
manufacturing soldiers' shoes, and in this manner
they had made a fortune.
" How did you make your money ? " inquired
Jed.
" Well, we've manufactured shoes and have got
tu or three other strings to our bow. Lawyer
Weston, did you say? he's a sharp one; mustn't
say nothin' against him, though ; he's a forehanded,
respectable man."
" He may be sharp," I replied, " but he does not
give very good advice to his clients. My aunt
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME. 217
mortgaged her house and put the money into the
squire's hands, and now she has lost her house, and
the squire denies receiving her money."
"Wall, I heard somethin' about that; but the
squire has alius been accounted honest, though
he's sharp, and money will stick to his fingers.
Men don't change their natures in a day, and the
squire is lionest. Say, yeou, didn't your aunt git
a receipt from the squire ? "
We replied that she did not.
"Tlie only proof she's got is her own word,
then, — w^ell. Temperance Nickerson won't lie, and
the squire is honest — don't see how it is," solilo-
quized Silas. " But when a man makes mone}^ lots
of folks stand ready to declare he made it cheatin',"
he added, Avith a virtuous smirk on his querulous
face.
Uncle John Warren, of whom mention has been
made in a previous chapter, was esteemed a sound
counsellor, and an honest, God-fearing man. As
he was a former friend of my father I determined
to consult him.
We found the old man in his sitting-room, and
he welcomed us heartily. After hearing our story,
he said in his deep, measured tones, —
" I do not see that anything can be done in this
matter, until jow have proof that the squire re-
ceived your aunt's money, and then you must place
your case in the hands of an honest man. The
evidence is circumstantial, all except this direct
218 JED'S ADVENTURES.
testimony of your aunt's, that she gave the money
to Squire Weston. It is well known that she
mortgaged her house on his advice, and you say
you have her letter asking your opinion of the in-
vestment. My advice is for you to go to Squire
Weston himself and see what he says. He has
always been thought to be honest, though a hard
man, who looked out for his own. The prevail-
ing haste for wealth may have taken hold of the
squire ; for the Holy Writ says, ' a man can't serve
God and Mammon.' "
The old man heard the story of our army experi-
ence with wonder and intense interest. Turning
to Jed, he said, " So far as I can judge, you've been
a brave soldier and a good boy. Be careful of your
habits, and do not fall into evil ways. When you
left home I lioped that you might become a true
follower of Christ."
Jed gave briefly, in simple words, his religious
experience.
Before we left. Uncle Joliii stood and prayed, in
his stately, solemn language, for the widows and
orphans of soldiers, and for his afflicted country,
and that God might guide and bless Abraham Lin-
coln, whom he had raised up as an instrument for
its salvation.
How deep the words of a good man's prayer sink
into the heart ! . . .
On inquiring of my aunt, I learned that her two
calls at Squire Weston's office had been made iu
ON FURLOUGH AT HOME. 219
the evening, becanse that time suited her conven-
ience, and gave the squire leisure to talk over
business.
The next day Jed and I called on Lawyer Wes-
ton. As I entered the door the lawyer looked up
from his desk, recognized us, and without the
slightest embarrassment advanced with extended
hand, saymg, " Glad to welcome home our brave
defenders, Mr. Nickerson. Ah I '' —
Here the squire frowned, for, gravely looking in
his face, I withheld my hand, saying, " What
have you done with my aunt's money, Mr.
Weston?"
The squire met my gaze unflinchingly, and with
his steel-gray eyes fixed on mine, replied, '^ I held
a mortgage on your aunt's house for money ad-
vanced by other parties. I foreclosed the mortgage,
as the interest on the loan had more than eaten up
the worth of the house. I have had no other money
transactions with your aunt, though she claims she
put money in my hands for investment at two dif-
ferent times. I never received the money. Your
aunt is flighty: something wrong here," and the
squire tapped his forehead significantly.
All this time Squire Weston met my eye like an
honest, fearless man, and this was more convincing
to me of his integrity than mere words.
Was my aunt really laboring under some mistake
or hallucination? Pondering on these things, I
visited Lawyer Robinson of the village, whose
220 JED'S ADVENTURES.
sharp, fox-like visage mirrored his acuteness and
sagacity.
After stating the case and answering all his ques-
tions, he dismissed me abruptly, saying, "Your
aunt has no case, because she has no evidence that
a court will consider. If Weston has acted the
scamp, he has not left the bars down : he has put
them all up behind him. I have always thought
him an honest man ; so does the community in
which he has lived for a lifetime. You've no case
against such a man with the evidence you now
have."
I could not but admit that the lawyer was right.
Squire Weston's well-known reputation for integ-
rity, and his manner of meeting m}^ inquiries, made
me hesitate to believe him guilty. Yet my aunt
had undoubtedly told the truth, " according to her
light," as Silas Eaton expressed it.
During my stay at home I made no progress in
clearing up the mystery. The squire's quiet denial
was, as Jed termed it, a "knock-down," — "And
you'll have to get evidence for crutches before you
go into court."
Though I had formerly believed in the squire's
guilt, I now began to surmise that under the whole
affair there was some mystery.
Our thirty days' furlough passed rapidly, and we
must leave once more for the army. The minister
of the village church, a good man, who exhibited
great interest in both Jed and myself, accompanied
ON FURLOUGH A T HOME. 2^21
US to the station. Uncle John was also present
to see us off, as was also Squire Weston's pretty
daughter, who had lately looked with favoring eyes
upon the straight, manly, handsome Jed.
So with many " God bless you's," we were once
more on our way to the front.
CHAPTER XX.
IN THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.
"TN a few clays we reached our regiment, then
-^ lying at Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg.
Many changes had taken place during our absence.
The ranks had been thinned by disease and battle.
Our comrades had participated in the conflicts of
Malvern Hill, the 2d Bull Run, South Mountain,
Antietam, and the terrible struggle for Mayre's
Heights, at Fredericksburg.
Captain Gruff, Avho had now recovered from his
wound, had been advanced to the position of
lieutenant colonel in command of the regiment.
Our old division commander. General Hooker,
for whom I had been an orderly at the time of my
capture, now commanded the army of the Potomac.
Colonel Gruff, as he was now called, endeavored
to dissuade Jed from joining his own regiment,
thinking it more prudent for him to be with some
other, so that if taken prisoner he would be in less
danger of being identified by his captors. Jed,
however, respectfully declined to be transferred and
said, —
'' I ought to be allowed to do a little real fighting
with my own regiment, so as to show that the
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. 223
rumor that I deserted was false. Secretary Stanton
offered me a commission and a transfer, but I
want to serve with my own townspeople."
" But, Jed, my tear poy, if the rebs get you, ve
all shall lose you. Deys not very careful vat dey
do."
"No," growled "Long John Haskell," "I'm
blanked if old Stonewall Jackson didn't fire chunks
of railroad iron at us at Bull Run ; they are awful
careless."
But no remonstrance availed with Jed, who,
like many amiable people, was very obstinate.
Shortly after his arrival, Jed was promoted to
be a sergeant ; my promotion to that rank had
previously taken place. Jed's long absence from
our ranks was now partly understood by the regi-
ment, yet there were envious members who hinted
that Jed was disloyal. Among these was Lieu-
tenant Weston. This was very hard for Jed to
bear, yet he made no denial by word or look, but
simply said, " My life as a soldier will disprove
these falsehoods."
An incident here occurred which illustrates the
generous character of the Union soldier. Near the
outposts there lived a crippled Confederate and
his wife, to whom Jed often carried food and
clothing. Osgood, Avho was now a corporal, and
who thought he should have been promoted instead
of Jed, insinuated that this was a method adopted
by Jed to communicate with the enemy. One
224 JED'S ADVENTURES.
day, however, Osgood stopped me as I was passing
him, and said, —
'' I want to make an ficknowledgment, as every
one should who has wronged a good man. I was
prejudiced against Jed, but I was wrong in sus-
pecting him."
"What has happened to change your opinion?"
I inquired curiously.
"Well," said he, "Sutherland and I saw Jed
going into that rebel's slianty, and we thought we
would listen so as to get a twist on him."
"What did you hear?" I inquired, for I knew
he could not have heard anything to Jed's dis-
credit.
" I heard Jed say to that rebel, ' Here, Johnnie,
here's all the money I've got; in a few days
the spring campaign will probably open, and
you'll have hard work to support yourself and
family.' "
" What did the Confederate sa}^ ? " I inquired,
still curious, as Jed had told me nothing of this,
although he had borrowed all my money.
" Why, that reb was all broke up ; I could look
through a chink of the logs and see the tears run-
ning down his face while he grasped Sergeant
Jed's hand, and said, ' I'll be doggoned if I didn't
believe Yanks had horns before you all come
down here to fight; but now I've got no other
friends.' — 'Don't say you have no other friends,'
said Jed, * Jesus is the friend of all who are heavy
hATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE, 2^5
laden with sorrow ; ' and then, as I'm a sinner, if
he didn't get down on his knees and pray for that
reb and his family, until both the man and his
wife cried like children, and I was all choked up
too. I made up my mind I'd confess how mean
rd been, and I'm doing it as fast as I can."
Osgood told this incident everywhere, which,
together with Jed's constant goodness, made him
many friends. It also made friends for the crip-
pled Confederate. So contagious is an act of
kindness to an enemy, that every new picket
shared their rations with him, split and carried
wood to his hut, and heaped coals of fire on his
hearth, if not on his head.
Constant parades, drills, and inspections on the
plains of Falmouth soon heralded the a^^proach of
another campaign. The army under Hooker then
numbered one hundred and twenty thousand men,
and justified the boast of its commander that it
was " the finest army on the planet."
April 27th we broke camp, and supplied with salt
pork, hard-tack, sugar, and coffee for eight days'
rations, began our march to turn the flank of the
enemy.
Hooker had wisely determined not to repeat the
fault of Burnside, in attacking the heights on his
front. He left Sedgwick to occupy the enemy's
attention, and to mask his movement on their
flank. Making wide detours behind the hills, that
the marching columns might not be perceived by
226 JED'S ADVENTURE^.'
the foe, we reached the upper fords of the Rap-
pahannock.
A small brigade of cavalry preceded us across
the river, to clear our front. The rear of this col-
umn was just crossing as we reached the river. As
we threw ourselves on the ground to rest, a tall
cavalryman on a small horse hesitated on the bank,
and soliloquized, —
" Well, old Joe Hooker remembered most
everything, but he forgot to give us swimming
lessons."
I at once recognized Sonny, the cavalryman, and,
thinking to tease him, shouted, "Are you after
more pigeon shot and sweet potatoes. Sonny ? "
Sonny turned and recognized me, and, after
shaking hands, rode into the rushing current, say-
ing, " I'll meet you on the field of glory, Nicker-
son." He little thought in what a grotesque man-
ner I should meet him before the campaign was
over.
It was, as Sonny remarked, no fool of a job to
cross this rapid river. Our men were, however,
equal to the task. They stripped, and, placing
their clothes and rations on their shoulders, with
their cartridge-boxes on their heads to keep their
ammunition dry, made the crossing with such
laughter and jokes as often season the rough work
of a soldier's life.
When darkness came on huge bonfires were
kindled on the oi:)posite banks, and all through
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. 227
the night soldiers and pack-mules could be heard
splashing in the chill waters of the Rappahannock.
At this point I met some prisoners who had been
captured by our cavalry. One of them asked me, —
*' What are you'ns goin' to do with all of your
grub fixins ? "
" Going to Richmond," I replied.
" I reckon you'll need rations for a hundred years
before yer git there," replied the confident reb.
" We like to have you Yanks have a lot o' good
things, for when we git one of yous, we git watches,
and boots, and a heap of fixins. Now, when you
git a reb, yer don't git much o' anythin' else.
Uncle Robert will gobble the hull of ye, and make
yer march with them fixins to Richmond, I reckon."
Thus confident were the Confederate soldiers in
their great commander.
An army of fifty thousand men was soon at
Chancellors ville. Our army, heavy laden with
rations and ammunition, had crossed two rivers
and had marched forty miles in two days. We had
turned the flank of the Confederate army, and it
was no idle boast of General" Hooker, that he held
Richmond in one hand and Lee's army in the other,
for the situation at that time justified the assertion.
Chancellorsville was not a town, but a solitary
country house, surrounded by clustering negro
quarters, standing in the midst of a large clearing,
with dense thickets on every side, practically im-
penetrable for the manoeuvres of an army.
228 JED'S ADVENTURES.
It was not the original plan of our general to
give battle here, but it was a convenient point from
which to concentrate his troops four miles farther
southeast at the United States Ford. This last
position, if attained, would take the rebel lines in
reverse, and if they retreated expose their flank and
rear, while if they came out to attack us they would
be obliged to accept battle in the open field.
Our left column moved out on the river road
from Chancellors ville without encountering opposi-
tion until it came in sight of Banks's Ford. The
divisions of Sykes and Hancock advanced on the
turnpike, and had reached the first of a series of
hills, where the advancing enemy was driven back.
The position on these ridges practically uncov-
ered Banks's Foid, and shortened our communica-
tion with the force under Sedgwick (at Fredericks-
burg) by twelve miles.
It was expected that this advantageous position
would be held at all hazards, when an order was
received from General Hooker to fall back to Chan-
cellorsville. Here, in this confined sjDot at the
Chancellorsville clearing, we awaited the attack of
the enemy.
Our lines were now about five miles in extent,
reaching from a shoi-t distance east of Chancellors-
ville, to the westward in front of the Orange plank
road.
Thus it was that the auspicious opening of the
campaign was followed by a series of blunders, by
BATTLE OF CHANCELLOliSVlLLE. ^20
which all that this first brilliant movement promised
was lost.
The position of Lee, meanwhile, was difficult,
but he proved equal to the situation. Although
his army was weakened by the absence of Long-
street's corps ; yet, in the face of our superior force
he divided his army, and sent Jackson around to
attack our right flank, now resting on the Orange
plank road.
Jackson reached the old turnpike, which runs
parallel witli, and north of, the plank road, from
which point he could see our i-ight (under com-
mand of Howard) in reverse. He now liad only
to advance to obtain a victory ; for a force attacked
in flank cannot fight, but are driven into huddles,
where the men can only fire into each other.
The men of the 11th Corps were cooking their
supper, when the blow fell upon them like light-
ning from a cloudless sky.
Our right wing was crushed and driven towards
Chancellorsville, and disaster threatened the whole
arm3\ During the night, however, the tide of dis-
aster was checked, and the bravest of the Confed-
erate leaders, Stonewall Jackson, was killed.
So much must be said in explanation of Avhat
follows in our narrative.
Colonel Gruff had been much disgusted with the
order to fall back, and growled out his displeasure.
We bivouacked that night near the Chancellor
house.
^80 JEJrS ADVENTURES.
Saturday morning, May 2d, dawned with a cloud-
less sky ; but on our right and left the incessant
" Cracky crack.., crack^^ of the skirmishers, and the
inng of bullets, sounded tlirougli the woods.
We left our knapsacks piled up in the woods, and
advanced to support a battery planted across the
plank road, running from Fredericksburg to Orange
Court-House.
Oar colonel sat upon his horse, grim and silent
except for an occasional brief order. The first line
rested upon the breastworks, and the soldiers were
boiling their coffee in their tin cups for their break-
fast, under fire, unconcerned as only veterans can
be in such circumstances.
At half-past seven, with a terrible yell, the rebels
charged, and drove back our skirmishers. When
our regiment was deployed as skirmishers, the
enemy held out hats and blankets from behind
trees, to draw our fire.
An ominous lull succeeded, which led Colonel
Gruff to growl, —
"I vonders vat mischief dey is up to now?"
We did not remain long in doubt, for we soon
distinctly lieard the rebel order, —
" Forward I double-quick ! guide, left ! " followed
by a yell and the tramp of advancing men, accom-
panied by a storm of shot.
While we were battling with this force, an omi-
nous cry went down our lines, " We are out of
ammunition ! "
MTTLE OF CMANCELLORSVILLE. ^3l
" Sergeant Nickerson, with some men, vill gather
cartridges from the dead and vounded," came the
order from Colonel Gruff.
But it was all in vain ; we were repulsed, and
fell back behind tlie breastworks' in our rear.
Here again the cry went down the line, " Out of
ammunition ! "
To add to our dismay, the fallen trees which
formed an abatis in our front were set on fire by
the enemy's shot. The suffocating smoke began
to choke and blind us. In this emergency,
while the enemy's bullets drummed a discordant
tattoo against our breastworks, Jed sprung over
the log parapet, and prevented the serious dis-
aster which threatened us by extinguishing the
flames.
Many who had not expected to see him return
alive, silently grasped his hand as he came back
unharmed.
Colonel Gruff simply said, "Veil done, ser-
geant ! "
Thus the fight went on through the day.
It was near sundown when on our right there
broke out a furious sound of battle. Nearer and
nearer and more clamorous came the uproar. It
was the attack of Jackson which had crushed and
driven back our right flank in confusion. That
night, as well as the next morning, the figlit was
continuous. The ceaseless patter of bullets did
its deadly work. We had changed our position
232 JED'S ADVENTUnns.
several times, losing many men, and now the for-
ests around us were on fire.
" Where is Lieutenant Weston ? " came the cry.
" He's left behind, wounded, on our right," said
some one in the ranks.
Jed went to Colonel Gruff ; I saw him nod in
assent to some proposition made by Jed, then
beckoned to me. Together we went back to rescue
the wounded from the flames. The fire was
crackling among the underbrush and resinous
pines, as through the blinding smoke we groped
our way. Heavy masses of black smoke were illu-
minated here and there by the flames. We were
partly in this forest fire, when Jed clutched my
arm, saying hurriedly, " Look I "
A great tongue of flame pierced the smoke, and
with a roar like an advancing wave came sweeping
down upon us. We turned and ran ; when Jed
called out, " Right liere to the left ! "* and sprang
into the smoke where the flames seemed to be
stayed. '' Here are some of our men."
A small, almost stagnant, brook, which at one
time during the fight had divided our company into
platoons, held back the flames, which, -when en-
countering this brook, hissed like an angry serpent,
and darted fiery fangs to the dry stubble on the
other side, where some of our wounded lay, who
were trying to drag themselves from the reach of
the fire. We reached these wounded men and
began moving them to a little clearing near at hand,
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. 233
where they would be comparatively safe. We
were thus engaged when some one exclaimed, —
'' Hello, old hoss, what yer doin' thar ? "
It was a rebel cavaliyman engaged in apparently
the same mission as ourselves.
" Lend us your blanket, and help us," said Jed
confidently.
The Confederate soldier hesitated a moment,
and then, as if unable to resist this appeal to his
better nature, unslung the blanket which hung on
his shoulders, and we fastened it to our muskets
for a stretcher. While the rebel and myself carried
the wounded to the clearing, Jed beat back the
fii'e and continued liis search for Weston.
We soon heard a shout from Jed, " I've found
him : "
We reached the spot, and found Weston, and
near him a wounded Confederate ; we took the
rebel soldier in our blanket, while Jed lifted Lieu-
tenant Weston in his arms and followed us. We
hurried, for the flames had'now crossed the little
brook. We were scorched and burned, but when on
reaching the clearing and looking back for Jed he
could not be seen. A whirlwind of fire was sweep-
ing over the field which we had just crossed.
We turned back, but everywhere encountered the
roaring, crackling flames ; while clouds of smoke,
driven by the rising wind, blinded us. We had
already advanced too far. We had turned when
we heard a feeble cry for help. It was Jed's voice.
234 JED'S ADVENTURES.
" Here ! " said the Confederate, dropping the
muskets, and trampling and beating down the fire
with his blanket, " Here he is I "
I imitated his example until we reached Jed
in a little cleared spot, not twenty feet broad,
nearly surrounded by the fire which roared and
crackled around him. In the centre of the clear-
ing he had placed the wounded lieutenant, and
was trying to beat back the fire. The flames mean-
while had closed around us, and for a few minutes
it seemed impossible for any of us to escape. We
threw ourselves on the ground with our faces
downward, and waited until at last the flames sub-
sided and opened up a path of safety to the larger
clearing beyond.
" That was a doggoned close call, stranger," said
the Confederate, as he got to his feet.
As we emerged Avith our burden into the cleared
field, we could hear the shrieks and cries of those
whom the fire had reached. We were all in a
pitiful plight. Jed fell fainting on the ground,
and I thouQfht him dead. The Confederate un-
slung liis canteen, and saying, " This is what he
needs," poured water down Jed's throat. My
eyebrows and hair were singed, and my face and
hands blistered.
After a while Jed revived, and feebly inquired,
" Is he safe ? " I nodded an assent. The lieutenant
was less burned than any of us.
The Confederate called our attention to infantry
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORS VILLE. 235
firing, now ringing in the woods at our left, and
exclaimed, —
" For God's sake get out of this, or you will be
taken prisoners ! "
To give his admonition greater emphasis, he di-
rected us by what lie thought was the way to our
lines, and then grasping us in a final hand-shake,
as the bursting shell began to fall, said, " Good-by,
Yanks ! Good luck I "'
As we crossed a part of the plateau at Chancel-
lorsville, Ave saAv the house on fire, and found the
rear of our army just retiring. Here comrades
helped us remove Weston to an ambulance.
As we left him, Weston said to Jed, '' Hoskins,
you are a brave man ; I owe you my life. Come
to me to-morrow, and I will tell you something that
you ought to know; I am afraid I shall never get
over this wound in my side."
Understanding that our regiment had moved
into a new position, towards the river, we now
tried to unite our fortunes with them once more.
On our way we encountered some artillery men
dragging off a battery by hand, as all the horses
had been killed, and one of the wdieels of a gun
had also been shattered. This group began to
joke us on our blistered, singed appearance, when
our attention was arrested by a hoarse cry behind
us. We turned and saw a tall man, dressed in
nothing but a shirt, running towards us like mad.
*' Gosh all Whittaker I but they stole my clothes
236 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and most got me ! " he yelled. The voice had a
familiar ring, but the singed eyebrows and blistered
face and nose of the fugitive made him look more
like a painted clown in a circus than a soldier. It
was "Sonny." Soldiers who are always ready to
laugh at anything odd or grotesque, began to jeer
and laugh at him until they noticed that his shirt
was saturated with blood.
"Why," explained Sonny, "I got to bush-whack-
ing around out there, when the first thing I knew
I was senseless. Some of them rebs shot me,
stole my hoss, and then, Avhen I had fainted or
somethin', actually stripped my clothes off my
back ! The woods were all afire, Avhen I come tu,
and I had to step light, I tell you ! "
When Sonny recognized us he said, " I was never
made for a cavalryman, anyhow — plague take a
hoss ! My time Avill be out soon, and then I'll
never look at a hoss agin. I've got a thunderin'
great hole in my ham, and too much smoke for my
bacon, tu, I guess."
With varying fortune, humiliated by needless
defeat, in the course of a few days our army fell
back to its old position at Falmouth.
We visited Weston at the field hospital soon
after our arrival, as requested.
We found liim lying on a hospital cot, very pale
and feeble, for the surgeons had just extracted a
bullet from his leg. They had, however, decided
that a hip amputation was laot advisable.
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. 237
On our entering, after a moment's pause, he said
to me, " It was I who took your aunt's money, which
she thought she placed in the hands of my father."
" But," said I, in surprise, " my aunt distinctly
remembered giving it to your father."
"It was not my father," said the lieutenant.
" I confess it with shame. I did not plan to take
the money at first. I Avas at home on recruiting
duty, and Ave were to have a theatrical entertain-
ment, in Avhich I was to take the part of an old
man. I had just 'made up,' as the theatre people
call it, with my father as a model. I put on an
old wig my father had discarded, and a suit of his
clothes. I Avas practising the part when your aunt
came in. The temptation to try my make-up on
her was irresistible. I Avas astonished when she
handed me the money, and asked me to invest it
for her, and said she would bring me the rest the
next evening. To prevent my father's knowing
that I had taken the fu-st, I had to be present in
my disguise to take the second instalment of cash.
At first I thought I Avould send it to your aunt by
express or mail. Before the theatricals came off I
AA^as on my way to the army, having first hid the
money, Avhich I had put in a tin box, in my straw
mattress at home."
As this explained a mystery involving a loss to
my aunt, and calling in question also the honesty of
Squire Weston, Ave were rejoiced to have the matter
cleared up.
238 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Before leaving him, Weston said, " Hoskins, I
owe my life to you, and I can never forget it. I
believe you are a good man ; can't you pray for
me?"
"I can't pray much," said Jed, "but the Lord's
Prayer is always sweet and precious. Let us re-
peat it together ; perhaps God will hear it and bless
us." And when in unison they repeated " deliver
us from evil," there were tears in the lieutenant's
eyes.
CHAPTER XXI.
MARCHING OX TO BATTLE.
A FTER the campaign of Chancellorsville, Lee
-^-^ determined to assume the offensive. The
confidence and pride of the South had been stimu-
lated by his successes, until the pressure of public
sentiment compelled him to an invasion of the
loyal States.
As early as May, our conversations Avith rebel
pickets showed us that some aggressive movement
was contemplated.
One day, while exchanging coffee for tobacco by
means of a board fitted up Avith a sail and rudder,
as a ferry of communication Avith the rebel pickets
on the other side of the Rappahannock River, one
of them sarcastically inquired, —
'' When are you 'ns coming over to see Ave uns ? "
" It's your turn next to come and see us. We
are tired of doing all the visiting," replied Osgood,
who Avas tending the ferry.
*' Reckon you 'ns Avon't have to Avait long, Yanks.
Uncle Robert is gittin' right ready to come over
and git some fixin's, and to lick yer out o' yer
boots,"
239
240 JED'S ADVENTURES.
The rebel newspapers, received througli tlie same
source, showed the drift of Southern sentiment in
that direction.
Such, in fact, was the confident desire of the
South at this time, that on a requisition for rations
from Lee's army, there was said to have been in-
dorsed this laconic suggestion: "If General Lee
wants rations for his army, let him seek them in
Pennsylvania."
It was not long after this that it became evident
to General Hooker that the rebel army was in mo-
tion. Their cavahy, behind which the movements
of their infantry were masked, on the 9th of May
was attacked by Pleasonton, revealing the fact that
A. P. Hill's and Longstreet's corps of the rebel
army were in the vicinity of Culpeper.
Ewell soon appeared in the Shenandoah Valley,
and from there crossed into Maryland and Penn-
sylvania.
In an army the under generals usually know but
little of the intentions of the commander, except as
it is matured in orders received. The order '^ Pack
up," came on the 11th of June. Our brigade was
soon in motion on the south side of the Rappahan-
nock.
We began a series of long marches and counter-
marches, sometimes making thirty miles a day over
rough and dusty or muddy roads.
Marching thirty miles a day may seem a small
thing to mention ; but if any of my young readers,
MARCHING ON TO BATTLE. 241
emulous of military glory, will equip themselves
witli a haversack containing three days' rations, a
knapsack weighing from eighteen to twenty-five
pounds, a canteen, and forty rounds of cartridges,
besides a Springfield i-ifle and bayonet, and will
march even one mile over the best of roads, they
will get a better idea of it.
If an officer does not understand marching men,
as happened to be the case in our brigade, he will
make them cover long distances without rest, and
such marching quickly breaks down the best of men.
An ignorant general, at this time, frequently
marched our column over difficult roads from ten
to twelve miles, without halting them. It resulted
in frequent sunstroke, and death from exhaustion.
Thereafter we were halted a few minutes every
hour, as the attention of an officer high in rank had
been called to this manner of marching.
We crossed the Potomac on a pontoon bridge,
built on sixty-four l)oats or pontoons, marched to
Monocacy, and at night bivouacked thirty miles
from our point of departure.
The transition from worn-out, battle-scarred Vir-
ginia to the fertile fields of Maryland and Penn-
sylvania, was, in effect, like passing from stormy
to sunlit skies.
It was at this time that we learned that General
Hooker had been deposed from command, and Gen-
eral Meade put in his place.
The novelty of being saluted by the smiles of
242 JED'S ADVENTURES.
women and children, instead of frowns, and of
marching through beautiful streets ; seeing the stars
and stripes floating from the houses, and even
churches ; of being among friends instead of ene-
mies, — was an agreeable contrast, which cannot be
expressed in words.
The usual sentiment of soldiers marching for
battle is, " Let us fight now, since we must fight,
and have it done with." In addition to this feel-
ing, there was here a new one. It was, '' If we do
not whip our enemies now, they will overrun these
fertile fields and devastate these comfortable homes
with their hungry hordes."
Our division reached Emmettsburg July 1, and
at ten o'clock in the morning heard the first faint
and almost inaudible rumble of cannonading at
Gettysburg, where the 1st and 12th Corps had
already encountered the enemy near Willoughby
Run.
It had not been the intention of Meade to fight
a battle at Gettysburg. The concentration of Bu-
ford's cavalry there was a mask to conceal his pro-
posed concentration of troops behind Pipe Creek,
where he expected to fight a decisive battle. But
'•'- man proposes, and God disposes."
The movement which Hooker had projected, was
a threat on the rebel commander's communications.
This threat caused Lee to recall his advance col-
umns from Harrisburg. Gettysburg, like the hub
of a wheel, with roads radiating from it like spokes,
MARCHING ON TO BATTLE. 248
was the first point Lee could reach, and lay hold of
direct lines for retreat or communications South.
Neither of the commanders of the great armies
soon to meet in battle knew of the presence of the
other. It was a gigantic game of blind-man's buff.
So, while Lee was reaching forward to grasp a
safe line of retreat or advance, and Meade was
masking the contemplated concentration, blind fate
brought them together on the field of Gettysburg.
On the last day of June, General Buford, by
questioning prisoners, got information that led him
to believe that the enemy was concentrating at
Gettysburg. The temper of this great cavalry offi-
cer was too aggressive to leave to an enemy a field
that he was able to liold by fighting. He ambushed
his men on Willoughby Creek, which runs north
and south about a mile west of Gettysburg.
About nine o'clock on the morning of the 1st of
July the Confederate column, preceded by a line
6f skirmishers, descended the western slope of the
stream, and a desperate encounter at once took
place.
Buford, outnumbered by the enemy, anxiously
awaited the approach of the 1st Corps. The signal
officer, from the belfry of the Lutheran seminary
near by, soon signalled its approach.
Buford hastened to the belfry to confirm the glad
tidings with his own eyes. Coming from the bel-
fry, he met General Reynolds, who commanded the
1st Corps, and assured him that his men could hold
244 JED'S ADVENTURES.
on until the infantry arrived. On its arrival, Rey-
nolds rode forward to direct the attack.
The struggle was then for the possession of a
small piece of woods, which projects like a salient
down the slope east of Willoughhy Run. If the
Federals could only hold this position, it divided the
line of the rebel advance. If possessed, on the other
hand, by the rebels, it divided the Union line, and
would compel its retreat.
General Reynolds was directing his men, when
Cutler's men and the Iron Brigade arrived, and
went into action on the right and left of the Cham-
bersburg road. While the men were advancing to
the attack, Reynolds urged them to hold their
ground at all hazards, to which they proudly re-
plied, " If we can't hold it, where will you find the
men w^ho can ? "
As the Iron Brigade marched on to the field they
shouted, " We've come, and come to stay I " And
most of them did stay, leaving their dead bodies on
the field which they so bravely defended.
The Confederate Genera! Archer was rushing his
men into the triangular piece of woods, hitherto
mentioned, when they encountered Cutler's brigade,
and recognized them by their hats.
" It ain't no militia, it's the Army of the Poto-
mac," was the surprised exclamation of the Con-
federates.
While leading the attack to a point in the woods,
General Reynolds was shot, and fell dead in this hi^
MARCHING ON TO BATTLE. 245
first encounter Avitli the enemy on the soil of his
native State. By liis associates he was regarded as
the most remarkable man in the arm}^ and one
destined to the greatest measure of fame.
The command of the 1st Corps now devolved on
General Doubleday, who, it will be remembered,
fired the first shot from Sumter, a narrative of
which I have given elsewhere.
It was a task for a giant. His forces, outflanked,
stubbornly fell back. Howard arrived, and from
the belfry of the seminary viewed the field. He
saw the four weak brigades of the 1st Corps strug-
gling with six large Confederate brigades. The
11th Corps arrived at eleven o'clock, and Howard
took command of the field. He stretched his men
out around the town, leaving a gap between the
11th and 1st Corps.
Oak Hill commanded the right of the field. At
three o'clock the Confederates broke througfli the
right of the 1st Corps and the left of the 11th,
planted artillery on Oak Hill, and disrupted the
entire Union line.
The unfortunate 11th Corps fell back through the
town in disordered flight, impeding the retreat of
the 1st Corps, which met its disorganized crowds
while falling' back in good order.
The brave efforts of this corps has but few paral-
lels in the history of fighting. Nearly half of its
numbers were left dead or dying on the battle-field.
Eighteen thousand men had withstood the attack
246 JED'S ADVENTURES.
of twenty-five thousand, in the heroic attempt to
keep back the invaders.
At four o'clock that afternoon the defeated frag-
ments of the 1st and 11th Corps were climbing
Cemetery Hill, where Steinwehr\s two brigades, as
a reserve, were in a fortified position.
General Hancock, at this critical moment, arrived,
and witli his clear head and magnetic presence put
a new soul, as it were, into the fragments of the
army on Cemetery Hill.
Such was the scene being enacted at Gettysburg
while the blue columns of our army corps were
swinging over the dusty roads from Emmettsburg
to the field of battle.
At first we heard only the rumble of artillery, like
distant thunder ; but as we hurried on, the sound
of cannonading grew more and more distinct, and
the men needed no urging to hasten their march.
As we reached the boundaries of Pennsylvania
the regiments of our corps belonging to that State
gave enthusiastic cheers.
Colonel Gruff was seen to shake his head, and
was heard to say, " Ter teffel vill be to pay soon."
Late in the afternoon we met an occasional group
of stragglers. Some also passed us who had se-
cured teams, and were hurrying forward as if fear-
ing to be late for the fight ; others showed evident
dislike to marcliing towards the sound of the guns.
We also met several squads of prisoners being
marched to the rear ; and the usual salutations,
MARCHING ON TO BATTLE. 247
" How are you, Yanks ? " — " How are you, John-
nies?" were exchanged.
A citizen whom we met said, "If you go any
farther you will have a fight in the night ; " while
a negro declared that " de roads ahead is full of
rebs."
Colonel Gruff sent these persons to the general,
but no orders to retrace our steps were given until
we picked up several of the rebel pickets, who were
out looking for water ; then a countermarch was
ordered.
The sound of battle had, meanwhile, died away
with the declining sun. We forded Willoughby
Run, south of the town, at nearly eleven o'clock
that moonlit night, and at half-past two o'clock in
the morning of the 2d of July stacked our arms,
and threw ourselves upon the ground to sleep the
sleep of tired men. We did not even heed the
picket shots on our front ; and a volley from the
enemy in the early morning hours, who were ad-
vancing by the same road over which we had so
recently marched, failed to awaken me. I was
rudely shaken by the shoulder before I realized
that I was on a battle-field, so sound is the sleep
of tired youth.
CHAPTER XXII.
ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBUEG.
T^AURING the early morning hours the sky was
-^-^ cloudy, and a veil-like vapor overhung the
valley of Gettysburg. Before noon, however, the
sun dispelled the mists, and lit up the smiling sum-
mer fields.
Our line of battle was advanced to the Emmetts-
burg road, which ran obliquely across the plain,
and passed near the foot of Cemetery Ridge, into
the village on our right.
The line of hills on which a portion of the Union
lines now rested, and which formed its defence on
the 3d of July, resembled in form the letter f.
The dot at the top of the f stands for Cul^^'s Hill ;
the semicircular portion, the cemetery ; from thence
down to the cross. Cemetery Ridge ; the bottom
of the f, Roundtop ; the cross of the f represents
Ziegler's grove. Opposite, and a mile away, was
Seminary Ridge, whereon the Confederate army
was posted, its entire line resembling in form a
letter C, with its two wings almost encircling ours,
and over five miles in extent.
" What a magnificent sight," said Jed, pointing
to the long compact blue line of men advancing
248
BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 249
over the plain to the Emmettsburg road. With an
oscillating motion peculiar to keeping step, our
corps moved forward, its burnished Springfield
rifles flashing in the sun like the foam fringe of a
blue wave. On our right, the cemetery presented
the curious contrasts of polished brass field-pieces,
and infantry supports in line of battle, among the
wliite marble monuments.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon, and our
corps had moved forward to the Emmettsburg road.
We were moving into position, when Jed said to
me, —
"Colonel Gruff looks anxious and troubled to-
day."
" I heard him say last night," said Haskell, our
orderly sergeant, " that he had a feeling that he
should not come out of the battle alive ; the old
fellow is nervous, I guess."
Jed responded sharply, " Colonel Gruff is no
coward, and if he knew that he Avas to be shot in
another hour, it would not change his manner."
" He makes no display of his good qualities,"
said another, " but there is no one in the army who
acts more from conviction of duty. All soldiers
become fatalists, and Colonel Gruff is no exception
to the rule ; he may have a premonition of evil, but
he knows that he cannot change fate."
At this instant the column had reached the Em-
mettsburg road, and the order was given, " Column
halt I In place, rest ! " The men threw them-
250 JED'S ADVENTURES.
selves on the ground in careless attitudes, but
ready for instant action.
The scene around us \Yas very peaceful; • a
treacherous contrast to the storm of battle about
to burst over these sunlit fields.
In front of our company, on the opposite side of
the road, were a farmhouse and its buildings. A
herd of cows was grazing near, tame pigeons cooed,
and bees hummed in the hives close at hand.
Jed and I left the ranks, to fill our canteens at
the Avell. A cat was asleep on the veranda, and
the mistress Avas bustling around the house with a
face as serene as the morning itself. She explained
to us that it was baking day. When we asked her
if she would sell us some bread, she gave us each
a loaf, with honey and butter enough to make it
very palatable.
Colonel Gruff, whom we had seen smoking in the
shade on the veranda, came into the kitchen,
attracted no doubt, like ordinary soldiers, by hear-
ing talk of bread and honey.
After buying some, he said kindly to the mis-
tress, —
"My goot voman, dere's going to be fighting
here, and you had petter get avay at vonce, or
you'll get hurt.''
A voice was heard from some subterranean place
near at hand, saying, " I wish the soldiers would
keep away from my house ! "
*' Who's that ? " inquired the colonel sharply.
BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 251
" That's my man ; he's frightened and has gone
down cellar," said the woman, coolly removing,
with a long iron-shod hook, some brown loaves from
her capacious oven.
Just before we left the house, a report of artillery
was heard, and a shot came crashing through one
of the outbuildinofs.
" You'd petter go down cellar mit your hus-
band," said Colonel Gruff to the mistress.
The woman stood courageously by her oven and
refused to " budge," as Jed called it, and continued
to sell her bread, running her cooking apparatus
at full pressure, saying, "I'll never leave this
house ! " Anotlier shot crashed into the house,
causing a howl from the cellar, while we hurriedly
took our places in the ranks to repel a possible
charge.
And now a shell comes in curved lines, like a
rocket, spluttering and growling, like an ill-natured,
absent-minded man, and then, as if in sudden recog-
nition of our presence, explodes above our heads.
The ominous order comes, to " Take arms ! " as
another rebel battery opens fire on our left. Shot
crashes through the buildings from two different
directions.
" Dey's got us enfiladed, poys ! " coolly remarks
Colonel Gruff, who sits his horse at the right rear
of the line, smoking his pipe. In another moment
the veteran's manner changes ; with a quick move-
ment he puts aAvay his pipe, takes his field-glass
252 JED'S ADVENTURES.
from its case, hanging by his side, and peers
intently towards the enemy. He puts away his
glass, glances down the line, and gives a few
orders. " We shall catch it now," growls one of
the men in an undertone, observing these move-
ments of the veteran.
Colonel Gruff now rides along the front of our
line, addressing in an undertone a few words to
each captain. Then comes the order, " Attention
company ! Load at will ! Load ! " The polished
rammers ring in the muskets, the locks of the mus-
kets crackle as the caps are adjusted. Artillery
goes into position like whirling clock-work. A crash
of fast plunging shells comes from the enemy. The
woman runs from the house with her apron over
her head, as if for protection, exclaiming, " They've
shot my oven.''
A terrible uproar of battle breaks out on our
left, beyond the elevation of the peach orchard.
Shot smite our ranks from our right and front, and
shriek over our heads. Long, dark masses of men
are forming in the fields in our front. We hear
the rattle of musketry and the roar of artillery
on the line beyond our left, which curves from
the peach orchard, Avhere it forms an angle and
sweeps back towards Roundtop.
Occasionally above the roar we hear the yell
and shout of the charge and repulse, and from the
bluish-white sulphur clouds wliich hang near the
ground, we see the flash of artillery.
BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 253
The storm of battle has reached us. Our skir-
mishers have fallen back to the main line, and the
whole front now lights up with the explosion of
muskets. There is a quick, incessant snap^ S7iap,
snap, of muskets fired at will, punctuated by less
rapid detonations of artillery. A kitten, mewing
piteously, runs from the house and climbs for pro-
tection upon one of our men's shoulders. Men,
wounded, drop their muskets and limp to the rear ;
they fall fast. The flagstaff is shot from the hands
of its bearer, and for an instant the flag touches the
ground. It is raised again. Bullets from the enemy
hiss and whisper death. Wounded and dying men
gasp out hurried or inarticulate words. The voice
of Colonel Gruff is heard in clear, commanding
tones, " Steady, men."
The horses and most of the men on the guns on
our left are shot. Our regimental front has closed
up its death-riddled ranks, until it occupies not half
its original space, and yet the line stands firm.
Will re-enforcements ever come ?
Time passes with leaden, sluggish wings, for
time is not measured by minutes, but by sensations.
The enemy have broken the Union line at the peach
orchard, and our position is being flanked.
We fall back reluctantly, for we do not under-
stand that this is necessary in order to connect with
our lines, which have been swept towards Round-
top by Longstreet's terrible ati^ck.
Re-enforcements come up and begin to form on
254 JED'S ADVENTURES.
our riglit, to bring us Avitliin supporting distance
of the 2(1 Corps. Our ranks, meanwhile, exposed
to volleys from three directions, grow thinner. A
bullet strikes my musket, glances off, and wounds
a man by my side.
The Confederate attack has expended its force.
Batteries from the hills back of us throAV plunging
shot into the ranks.
We had fallen back almost to the ridge, when
there came one of those outbursts often seen among
veteran soldiers. A cry went down the line as if
by some electric, spontaneous agreement, " Charge
them ! charge them! " and the five regiments of our
gallant brigade, so decimated that its lines scarcely
occupied a hundred feet of front, with a wild hurrah
went charging fiercely over the ground they had so
reluctantly abandoned.
We recaptured our abandoned batteries, and res-
cued and sent to the rear many wounded comrades ;
while in our rear, men, both enemies and friends,
who were thought to be dead, rose to their feet all
over the plain.
Near the house on the Emmettsburg road we cap-
tured a group of Confederates, who were attempt-
ing to get away Avith one of o"ur abandoned batteries.
The enemy had abandoned the main attack.
Longstreet's flank attack had failed. The fire
irom their artillery still struck our ranks. In obe-
dience to orders, in the gathering darkness we fell
back to the heights of Cemetery Ridge, where the
BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 255
arms stacked for the five regiments would scarcely
be sufficient for one full regiment.
We now began to have intelligence of the fight
from other parts of the line, — of the baffled attack
and heroic defence of Roundtop, and that General
Sickles had lost his leg.
Exhausted, Jed and I had lain down in our
blankets, when we heard some one inquiring for
Colonel Gruff. No one seemed to know anytliing
about him. He was missing.
" I saw him leading his horse," said some one ;
"the horse was wounded, and then I saw him
on foot giving orders, with his saddle on his
shoulders."
We aroused ourselves at once. Inquiry was
made at different parts of the line, but without re-
sult. '' We must go out and look for the colonel,"
said Jed decisively.
Notwithstanding the terrible strain put upon
them by the day's battle, many men joined us in
the search for, and the relief of, their unfortunate
comrades who were missing. The weary privates
who had fought through the day volunteered to
carry water to the wounded, and with stretchers be-
gan to explore the moonlit plains where the battle
had raged.
Such a sight of death and suffering is seldom
seen by human eyes. The pale moonlight gave to
the dead a more ghastly look, and to the wounded
a more sickening pallor.
256 JED'S ADVENTURES.
We were giving water to the wounded, who
made constant outcry for it, and were putting
wounded men in more comfortable positions, when
we saw a man rise from a group. Challenged, it
proved to be a Confederate soldier, engaged in the
same mission of mercy as ourselves.
'' I have been giving water to both Yanks and
rebs, but I am a prisoner if you say so," he said.
We shook hands with him, in recognition of his
fraternal spirit, and bade him go on his Avay. At
one point in our search there was an isolated bowl-
der twenty feet broad, rounded towards the enemy
and flattened on the opposite side. There were
twenty dead men lying together here, and among
them we saw the shoulder-straps of an officer and
the chevrons of sergeants. In the attack which
had swept the field they had been cut off from the
main line, and, refusing to surrender, had fought
and died at their post.
We came to Colonel Gruff's dead horse, searched
the plains near the Emmettsburg road, and ventured
into the farmhouse where our line had at fii'st been
formed. The house was abandoned, with the ex-
ception of a few wounded men on the veranda.
The moonlight streamed through the irregular holes
in the buildings made by the shot, shell, and shower
of bullets.
We advanced beyond, when, " Halt ! Who goes
there ? " came the quick challenge of a picket.
We tln-ew ourselves on the ground, and on our
MTTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 25t
hands and knees crept towards the house again,
amid the hiss of bullets.
" A close call," whispered Jed.
"Yes,'* I responded, "but I am afraid Colonel
Gruff has had a still closer one."
We rejoined a group of our own men, and searched
the field towards the peach orchard.
"Don't go out there," said a wounded officer;
" my men are out there."
" We can take care of ourselves," said Jed.
We had not gone a hundred yards when ping^
pimj, zip, zip! came the bullets of the enemy's
videttes. We went quickly back.
When returning, Ave halted near the rebel officer
who had given us the friendly warning, and asked
him if we could do anything for him. He replied
that he was in a very uncomfortable position, and
that if we could move him he would be grateful.
We gathered a few blankets from the dead, and
with these arranged him as comfortably as we could,
and gave him a canteen of water. " After the war
is over we may meet as friends, and not enemies,"
said the officer.
Our search had been in vain : the colonel was
either dead or in the hands of the enemy. We
reached our lines, and sadly threw ourselves down
by our sleeping comrades.
At sunrise the Confederates were found to be in
possession of Culp's Hill, in the rear of the ceme-
tery. Had they advanced from that point in force
jEi)'s AbvENfun^i^.
during the niglit they could have seized the Balti-
more road, and compelled our retreat.
We quickly drove them from Gulp's Hill with
our superior artillery. The Union lines were now
very compact, having assumed the position on the
line of hills, wliich in the beginning of this chapter
we mentioned as resembling the letter f. Our line
was a convex one, easy to re-enforce, while the rebel
lines were concave, and required a march of five
miles in communicating one wing with the other.
Silence fell upon the field. The sun was hot, and
our ranks reclined upon the ground, expecting an
attack. Two hours passed, and not a gun was
heard. At last on Seminary Hill a single gun was
fu-ed, then another. It was the signal for attack.
A most terrible cannonade began. Shell groaned,
hissed, and spluttered. Solid shot crushed the
fences and stone walls, ploughed the ground, or
exploded our caissons. A continuous succession
of crashing sounds ensued, as if heaven and earth
were rent asunder. The air was filled with burst-
ing shell, causing us to grow pale, and look into
each other's faces with awe and terror.
By a rapid and continuous circle of cross-firing
of artillery, Lee, with one hundred and fifty pieces
of artillery, was endeavoring to dismount our guns
and demoralize our troops. Had he succeeded he
could have broken through our left centre.
For two hours the terrible cannonade of death,
replied to by the Union batteries, continued. Hill
BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 259
and valley seemed a flame of fii-e, while a canopy of
smoke that came from the cannons' mouths and ob-
scured the sun, produced a blackened magnificence
that no pen can describe.
The Union guns were sent to the rear, and our
firing ceased, but that from the rebel guns continued
a while longer. But all things have an end, and at
last the carnival of death ceased.
Then we saw that the charge was coming. The
faces of the men around me were set in the rigid
tension of suspense. The Confederate columns
moved over the plain from different directions in
converging columns towards Cemetery Ridge as
a common centre of attack. This attack has been
erroneously termed Pickett's charge. It was more
properly Longstreet's assault, as Lee had placed it
under the direction and management of the latter
general.
The smoke lifts lazily and drifts away from the
valley, revealing the dense gray masses of Con-
federates advancing over the fields. They approach
with the steady tread of veterans, and with the con-
fidence of victors.
The Union artillery, hitherto silent from Round-
top to the cemetery, open mouths of destruction
upon their compact lines. As they come nearer,
grape and canister pass through and rake their
ranks like chariots of death. Great gaps are seen
in their ranks. They close up and come on. We
see them, like shadows through the smoke, align
260 JED'S AbVE^TVnns.
their men and rush upon our lines with shrill, sharp
yells and cries. At the foot of the slope our men,
who are behind a stone wall, give way. '' My God !
they've forced our lines, sergeant," says Lieutenant
O'Keif, clutching my arm. For a few moments we
hear a succession of terrible sounds, in which there
is the rattle of musketry, and shriek of human
voices.
The charge is repulsed. The proud array that
marched so bravely and gallantly on our lines are
dead, wounded, or scattered in flight.
All was excitement and exultation, but oh, Avhat a
frightful scene ! The whole slope was covered with
the dead, and with writhing, wounded men. The
Emmettsburg road, in front of the ridge, was liter-
ally choked with the dead and wounded victims of
the struggle. The cries of the wounded for water
mingled with the shi^ieks of agony, while thou-
sands of the enemy lay upon the ground extending
their arms in token of surrender. A victorious
field is second only in horror to a field of defeat.
The battle of Gettysburg was over, and the rebel
army gathered up its broken columns.
The next morning they were found occupying a
short but compact line in the fringe of woods on
Seminary Heights.
We were assisting to gather and help the
wounded, all that day. At one point in the field
we came to a group of men wounded on the 2d,
only one of whom was living. Jed rushed towards
BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 261
Mm with quick sympathy. The wounded man called
for water ; and then said, as if the scene had made
so great an impression on his mind that he could
speak of nothing else, pointing to the dead around
him, —
" That boy died crying for his mother. This
man crept up to me, and put his hand in mine, as
if for sympathy, and died. This man lasted until
most daylight."
" Did you see any one with a horse ? " said Jed,
wiping away the tears caused by the brief but pa-
thetic recital.
" An old fellow with a saddle stopped here last
night, and gave us water ! "
" That's Colonel Gruff," said Jed, " it's just like
him. His heart is as tender as a child's."
A new hope sprang up in our hearts. Colonel
Gruff might be alive and a prisoner.
CHAPTER XXIII.
AFTER BATTLE.
~[ TEAYY rainfalls follow a great battle, as if
-■ — L Mother Nature, more pitying than men, de-
sired to relieve the soreness of hurts and wounds,
and the thirst of those lying on ensanguined fields.
The grateful sense of relief thus afforded was often
expressed by those whom we assisted.
I was speaking of this to Jed as our division
marched over the muddy roads, in the rain, to
strike the flank of Lee's retreating army.
"Yes," said Jed, as he stopped to adjust the
strap of his heavy knapsack, made still heavier by
the soaking rain, and then, with his quaint grimace,
continued, "but I ain't hankering for any more of
it." Then, after a moment's thoughtful silence, he
said, " You remember the book we were reading
at Fredericksburg, Sterne's ' Sentimental Journey,'
and that passage which I said was as tender and
as beautiful as the Bible, ' The Lord tempers the
winds to the shorn lamb.' I have thought often
since, that if we are in the right frame of mind, —
that of cheerfulness and thankfulness for the good
we really have, — misery and discomfort roll from
us like rain from a rubber blanket. I sometimes
262
After battle. 26^
think a soldier's cheerfulness while marching to
battle for a good cause is a prayer, which our
good Father is more likely to hear than mere words
which have no fulfilment in self-sacrifice."
I repeat this conversation because it expresses
Jed's deeply blended patriotic and religious con-
victions, which, however, seldom took the form of
words. It was as if a grain of seed soAvn by Him
of Nazareth had found lodgement in his soul, and
Avas bearing the fruits of a beautiful life.
Jed would usually turn away my attempts at
theological controversy by saying, '' Wrangling
and controversy lead us away from Christ; not
to him. We can easily understand all that is es-
sential to make us like him ; love for him means
love for our fellow-men, and how can there be love
without charity and forbearance ? "
This is all of Jed's theories of religion, or of his
love for the Master, that I ever knew ; but I did
know that daily and secret prayer was giving to
his character a manly sweetness wliich impressed
all who knew him.
One character connected with this narrative I
have not yet mentioned. Colonel Gruff's servant,
a gentleman of extreme brevity and blackness
(with the whitest teeth and the most expansive
india-rubber-like mouth I ever saw), known to the
regiment as Smutty. He had come into our lines
while the regiinent was at Fredericksburg. Colo-
nel Gruff had employed him to cook and work
264 JED'S ADVENTURES.
around his quarters, until, being absent for a few
hours, he returned to find Smutty arrayed in a suit
of his clothes. The colonel thereupon indignantly
discharged him. But the next morning Smutty
was found at work as usual in the colonel's tent,
getting breakfast and brushing his clothes, as if
nothing had happened. The colonel then not only
discharged him, but " fired him out," with emphatic
emphasis.
In less than three hours Colonel Gruff was
awakened from his noonday nap by what Osgood
called " a rumpus." It was Smutty, engaged in a
stentorian conversation with a soldier who had
stumbled over the tent ropes.
" When yer toddles ober dem ropes, I speaks to
yer, and calls yer white trash ; when yer tumbles
ober hyer twice like yer dus now, dere's gwine to
be somebody hurt. Does yer har me ? "
The colonel ran from his tent to remonstrate
and to again discharge him, to wliich Smutty paid
not the slightest attention, but, like a miniature
cyclone, continued chastising the soldier. After
the affair was ended by the ejection of the cause
of the disturbance. Smutty, with his broadest grin,
bowed to the colonel, and said, —
'' Go into de tent, if yer please, Massa Kunnel,
I kin tend to de sturbances."
Whether Colonel Gruff was converted by his
usefulness, or conquered by his persistency, I do
not know, but from that time he gave up the task
AFTER BATTLE. 265
of discharging Smutty, declaring he would have to
wait until Smatty discharged himself.
Smutty was a model servant in many ways, and
was devotedly attached to the interests of his mas-
ter ; but he still retained the inconvenient habit of
wearing the colonel's clothes, and never, to my
knowledge, paid the slightest heed to his remon-
strances, or any one's else, in the matter.
Smutty was not particularly fond of battle, and
absented himself from such " sturbances " as he
called them.
When Colonel Gruff failed to appear after the
third day's fighting, Smutty 's face had an injured
expression, as if he or the '^ Kunnel," or both, had
been improperly dealt with. He was silent and
uncommunicative ; and then, as if our society had
lost its charms for him, he disappeared.
Jed declared he had gone in pursuit of Colonel
Gruff, while others persisted that he had gone over
to the enemy to look up another master.
Our advance continued until, on the 12th, we
once more confronted the enemy at Williamsport.
Here the Confederates were separated from Vir-
ginia by a freshet, which made the Potomac impas-
sable, and there was no bridge over which they
could cross the river.
IVIuch was said in the newspapers during the
war, about soldiers being anxious to be led into
battle; but soldiers were not usually eager to
fight.
266 JED'S ADVENTURES.
At this time, however, they had but one desire,
and that was to take arms and charge. They be-
lieved they could capture all the material of the
rebel army, and end the war.
And here let me say, that, while there will always
be a difference of opinion as to the manner the
Confederate army should have been attacked, there
can be but little doubt that Meade should have
struck a blow at his antagonist before he crossed
the Potomac.
On the 17th our brigade crossed the river, and
marched along the base of the Blue Ridge Moun-
tains, which separated the two armies. There
were occasional skirmishes as the contestants came
in contact with each other, through the mountain
passes.
The rugged picturesqueness of these mountains,
with their overhanging cliffs, on which grew forest
trees and a dense undergrowth, impressed us with
their wild beauty.
At Manassas Gap our corps relieved the cavalry.
The rearguard of the Confederate army held pos-
session of a part of it, while their army made its
passage from the valley to Culpeper Court-House.
An unusual incident took place while a part of
our brigade Avas on picket here. A number of
Confederate soldiers came in, and delivered them-
selves up as prisoners, saying they were tired of
fighting. They expressed a desire to get some
Yankee coffee, and go to the rear.
AFTER BATTLE. 267
We then learned that the Confederate army had
retreated, and that these men had purposely staid
behind to be taken prisoners. As the last of these
men came in, a scow-shaped Avagon with a ragged
white cover followed in their rear, as if under their
charge. The driver was a short, stout, black man,
who explained his mission by announcing that he
had something for the — th Mass. Jed and I, who
were just relieved from duty, were among the
crowd who gathered around the incoming '^ John-
nies." '^ What's up ? " we inquired. Just then, as
we pressed forward, the negro driver caught sight
of us, and exclaimed, —
'' Got suthin fur yo, sure nuff, sah ! "
The reader can imagine our astonishment when
in the sable driver we recognized Smutty. Added
to this surprise was another still greater. The
rough canvas of the wagon was pushed aside, and
the face of Colonel Gruff looked out.
There Avas great excitement in our regiment,
with whom the colonel was a great favorite. The
grizzly face of the colonel, unshaven for a long
time, was pale and haggard; but his joy, as well as
our own, at tliis meeting cannot be described.
There was one thing, however, that marred our
pleasure, — the dear, brave old colonel's arm had
been amputated below the elbow.
His story was soon told in brief. He had been
wounded at the time of our falling back from the
Emmettsburg road, while attempting to help some
268 JED'S ADVENTURES.
wounded men ; and, while endeavoring to find his
way back, he had fallen into the hands of the
enemy.
Before Lee's retreat, many prisoners had been pa-
roled by the Confederates; but for some reason
Colonel Gruff had not been included among them,
and had been hurried forward with the retreating
enemy.
How Smutty had reached the rebel lines was
never known, as that dignitary never condescended
to explain trifling matters ; but one day he had
mysteriously thrust his head into the wagon which
contained Colonel Gruff, and then for a time dis-
appeared.
'' At first," said the colonel, " I thought it an
hallucination, but soon after found Smutty driving
the team in the same unconcerned, matter-of-course
manner in which he achieves all his triumphs, and
one Avould have thought that he had always driven
that particular team."
When he was asked what had become of the
other driver, he replied, " Golly ! dun no ; 'spect he
drapped from dat yer mule ; " and that was the only
explanation he ever vouchsafed, to the colonel or any
one else. As Smutty wore a motley mass of rags
instead of one of the colonel's suits, it was guessed
that this exchange of clothing had been the price
of his position as driver, and in some way was con-
nected with the former driver's disappearance.
Colonel Gruff 's wounds were healing, but he did
AFTER BATTLE. 269
not speak in especially complimentary terms of the
comforts he had enjoyed, and endeavored to convey
to us, by sundry rough metaphors, the jolting na-
ture of the wagon in which he had been conve3^ed.
As they had neared Manassas Gap, under various
pretences, the team had been delayed. At last a
wheel came off, and Smutty drove the team one
side to repair it ; and this delay, not being noticed,
gave them the opportunity to reach our lines with
the Confederate deserters, as narrated.
Colonel Gruff was tenderly cared for after his
arrival in our lines, and Smutty for a time fol-
lowed the ambulance on foot ; but when we got
into camp the next night, Smutty was driving that
ambulance, as serene and as cool as a sheet of ice.
August 1, the pursuit being over, found us in
camp at Beverly Ford.
Colonel Gruff was sent to the "Satterly Hos-
pital" in AVashington, where he remained until just
before the Wilderness campaign, under Grant,
began.
While at Beverty Ford I received a letter from
my aunt, — the first I had received since writing
from Fredericksburg, after the battle of Chancel-
lors ville. She had received the letter containing the
details of Weston's confession, and had communi-
cated its contents to the squire. On searching for
the tin box which contained the money, which had
been concealed by Weston in the straw mattress,
they had been unable to find it.
270 JED'S ADVENTURES.
In the campaign of manoeuvres, which followed,
we took part, but had little or no fighting.
At Rappahannock Station an incident occurred
which deserves a place in this narrative, as it con-
cerns one of the characters to whom the reader has
been introduced.
In falling back to this place, in one of the coun-
termarches which characterized this campaign, we
formed a part of the rearguard.
The engineers were destroying a long railroad
bridge which spanned a gorge on the steep banks
of the Rappahannock. They had destroyed the
south end, and only one plank connected the shore
with the bridge, twenty feet or so therefrom. The
structure was heaped with inflammable material,
ready to fire, when there appeared in sight, on the
south side of the Rappahannock, a single Union
horseman furiously pursued by rebel cavalrymen,
w^ho were shouting, and firing upon him.
The horseman, urging his horse to its utmost
speed, reached the shore, and, without a moment's
hesitation, coolly trotted his horse over the single
plank on to the bridge. As the fore-feet of the
horse struck the railroad ties of the bridge he
stumbled, the cavalryman slid over his neck, and
landed safely on his feet. Not so, however, the
faithful beast he had ridden. He reeled back and
was precipitated over the gorge, and lay mangled
and dead on the rocks, sixty feet below.
Coolly removing an envelope from his belt, the
AFTER BATTLE. 271
orderly presented it to the engineer officer, simply
remarking on the loss of his horse, " I am sorry to
lose my horse and revolver." It was Henry Grace,
riding with orders from General Meade.
That winter we went into quarters at Brandy
Station. The ordinary camp life was unbroken,
save by court-martials and military punishments.
Our term of enlistment ended that winter, but
we felt it to be a patriotic duty to re-enlist ; and our
desire to do so was strengthened by the rumor that
General Grant would command the army in the
approaching campaign.
Shortly after re-enlisting for another term of ser-
vice, both Jed and I were recommended for promo-
tion as lieutenants in our own regiments.
CHAPTER XXIV.
GRANT TAKES COMMAND.
TT was a spring day of unclouded splendor, in
-'- Virginia. The snow on the crests of the Blue
Ridge, so long visible from our quarters, had
disappeared. Frequent inspections and reviews
foreshadowed the speedy opening of the spring
campaign. Among the log huts roofed with A
tents, their rude chimneys of sticks and mud
capped by barrels, might be seen the glittering
muskets of moving sentinels ; while, here and there,
groups of soldiers swept the company streets, or
engaged in ordinary camp duties. Arches and
other decorations of evergreen showed the charac-
teristic pride of Union soldiers in their more j)er-
manent camps.
Under the fly of a large tent, at a rude table, our
company officers were at dinner. Colonel Gruff
had just returned from the Washington hospital,
and was the guest of the mess ; and Jed and myself,
as acting lieutenants, were also present.
After dinner Colonel Gruff had taken from his
pocket a Washington newspaper, and, calling for
attention, read the following : '' The rank of Lieu-
tenantrGeneral, revived by Act of Congress, passed
272 . - .
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 273
February 14th, has been conferred upon General
Grant, by the President. The general will, by
virtue of this office, take command of all the armies
in the field. It is also understood that he will
make his headquarters with the Army of the Poto-
mac, and direct its operations in person."
'' By me sowl I " exclaimed Captain O'Keif,
"byes, this means fighting, and plenty of it,
too ! "
"Yes," assented Colonel Gruff. "Shentlemen,
dot means ve shall move soon ; and ve shall soon
fight and keep on fighting until ve are vipped, or
the enemy is vipped," and he thumped the table
excitedly with the stump of his amputated arm.
A smile went around the table, for the old sol-
dier was seldom so demonstrative. The colonel,
having thus delivered his opinion, carefully filled
and lit his pipe, making rather awkward work of
it with his one hand, and then sat silently smoking,
as if ashamed of the emphasis of his remarks.
The prospect of fighting is not always dreaded
by soldiers, since, by the very nature of their pro-
fession, it must come , yet even on the youngest
soldier's face, the lines of care, which are common
to those who follow a perilous profession, had begun
to deepen, with thoughts of the coming campaign.
As we sat discussing the prospect of the army
under the new commander, a mounted officer,
dressed in a rusty uniform, came riding down the
company street, and dismounted in front of our
274 JED'S ADVENTURES.
tent, with the evident intention of tightening the
girth of his saddle.
Our party saluted ; and the officer of the guard
near at hand, seeing him to be a general of high
rank, commanded (as was customary), " Turn out
the guard."
" Never mind the guard," quietly responded the
officer.
Colonel Gruff now came forward, and with bluff
courtesy invited the general to a seat, sending his
own orderly to fasten the saddle-girth.
With a quick, penetrating glance at the colonel,
the general extended his hand, saying, '' Is this not
Gruff, whom I knew in the Mexican war? "
" Yes, general," said the colonel, with a flush of
pride at being thus recognized by his superior, " I
was Corporal Gruff of the — Artillery."
I noted that the general was rather below the
medium height, thin in person, but compactly
built. His eyes were gray, clear, and cold; his
features were regular, his forehead broad, and his
face flushed as if blushing ; while his mouth, seen
through his close-trimmed brown beard, was straight
cut, and, when he spoke, the thin, bloodless lips
came together with something like a snap. His
bearing was sim^^le, and his manner one of tranquil
firmness, as of conscious power in repose. Though
his face was almost stony in its immobility (as if
long trained to conceal any expression of thoughts),
yet his personal motions were so quick as to be
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 275
almost jerky ; as if the regular army drill masters'
constant command, " Make your motions quickly,
and then steady yourself for the next order," had
become thoroughly embedded in his habits. When
he removed his hat I noticed the shape of the back
of his head, ^Yhich formed neai'ly a right angle, the
vertical line of which ran straight down to his
collar. He remained seated but a moment, then
rose quickly, as if in haste.
Colonel Gruff introduced us collectively, saying,
" Shentlemen, this is Lieutenant-General Grant."
The general's horse now being ready he walked
quickly to it, with his head in advance of his body.
He vaulted to his saddle without use of the stirrup,
and rode away, leaning far forward on his horse,
with a concentrated look on his face.
" How did you know General Grant ? " we ex-
claimed, gathering around the old colonel, for we
had never heard the least expression from him, in-
dicating such an acquaintance.
" Vel, boys, I never knew Sheneral Grant, but I
knew a leetle Lieutenant Grant in de Mexican
var. I helped him vonce to get a howitzer to the
top of a church belfry in the city of Mexico, and
we pelted some Mexicans at the San Cosme Gate."
A short time after this, all was in a bustle of prep-
aration. The log huts were destroyed, and troops
bivouacked in the held, to prevent delay in march-
ing whenever the orders should come. At sunset
276 JED'S ADVENTURES.
on the 4th of May, orders were issued for our regi-
ments to move at half-past ten that night. All
unnecessary fires were prohibited, taps and tattoo
were beaten at the usual hours ; but instead of set-
tling to its rest, the army, with its long trains, was
marched to the fords of the Rapidan, to open the
cam23aign of 1864.
The soldiers, who, while in winter quarters, had
accumulated much extra baggage, in tliis rapid
march began throwing away their blankets and
clothing on all sides. Pack mules, loaded pictu-
resquely with pickaxes and shovels for intrench-
ing purposes, accompanied the divisions of the
army.
On the 5th of i\Iay, Griffin's division of the 5th
Corps, which had been thrown out to prevent an
irruption of the enemy into the roads upon which
Sedgwick's corps was yet to move, encountered the
van of Hill's corps, of the Confederate army, and
a fierce fight took place.
It was Grant's plan that, having turned the Con-
federate right by the successful passage of the
Rapidan, he would mask his march through the
Wilderness, and then, by a rapid advance towards
Gordonsville, plant himself between the Confede-
rate army and Richmond.
The centre of Lee's line at this time was at
Orange Court-House, from whence the Orange and
Fredericksburg plank road and turnpike ran in
parallel lines eastward. Down these roads Lee
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 277
hurled his troops upon the exposed flank of the
Union army.
The Confederate commander knew every road
and by-path of the Wilderness, while to the Union
leader it was an unknown region.
Artillery could not be used here because of the
thick undergrowth of jack oaks, pines, and entan-
gling vines.
The Confederates soon attacked Warren's corps,
whose naked flank was exposed, and thus showed
that general that the enemy was in force on his
front.
Information of the Confederate attack having
been conveyed to Grant, the forward movement of
troops by the flank was suspended, in order to meet
the attack now begun by the enemy, who were hop-
ing to entangle and insnare the Union army in this
labyrinth of woods.
Hancock's corps, to which we were now attached,
was at this time near Todd's Tavern. We at once
began a march up the Brock road, to its intersec-
tion with the Orange plank road, to take part
in the contest thus begun between the two
armies.
At three o'clock in the afternoon we reached the
scene of the battle, and began intrenching ourselves
by felling trees and heaping soil against their
trunks. Before these works were completed, how-
ever, we* were ordered to attack the enemy on the
plank road. The fight which now ensued baffles
278 JED'S ADVENTURED.
description. The enemy fired at us from behind
trees, bushes, stumj)S, and from thickets.
In advancing through the tangled undergrowth
of creeping vines and low oaks and pines we could
not preserve our alignments, and the left of a bri-
gade could only determine the position of its right
by the smoke from its muskets.
The nature of the fighting vexed Colonel Gruff
very much. As he dismounted from his horse and
led liim through the bushes, in the rear of his regi-
ment, he was heard to growl at every step, " Bush-
vacking I bushvacking ! "'
Tlie firing, which was at first desultory, soon
became fierce and continuous. There were at this
time a large number of bounty men and recruits in
our regiment, who had never before smelled gun-
powder. This fact made our force less reliable in
holding its ground than in former actions, and re-
quired constant vigilance from the file closers, who
occupied a position a few steps in rear of the main
line.
Occasionally some man, appalled by the terrible
nature of the fighting, would break and attempt to
run. The men were falling fast when a strapping
Irish recruit came three times to the rear in this
attempt.
Captain O'Keif collared him in his third attempt,
and, whirling him around with his face to the enemy,
exclaimed, '' The enemy are not back here at all,
man. By the holy St. Patrick, they are thicker
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 279
than bees straight ahead, as I'm pointing
you."
" Over there is it, captain ? Divil a man knows
it better than myself. But just think of me being
kilt without a 2)raste ! "
" By me sowl ! " said Captain O'Keif, " an Irish-
man who would run wouldn't be worth a praste,
and if yez don't keep yer place in line, I'll blow yer
brains out."
The recruit, as he took his place in line, was
heard to exclaim to his comrades, " Let us die here
like men." At which O'Keif said droUy, "See
what a brave man I've made of him ! "
At another time, during the fiercest of the fight,
Sonny, the dismounted cavalryman, arrested the
flight of a foreign recruit, and addressed a few
words of remonstrance to him. The recruit
shook his head and said, "No understand Eng-
lesh."
At which Sonny turned the recruit with his face
to the enemy, and with repeated kicks from his No.
10 shoes forced the would-be runaway into line, re-
marking in an aside, " That's a language anybody
can understand." Such is often the by-play of
battle, at which a soldier laughs even in the midst
of danger.
The roar and crackle of musketry now became
terrible, even to veterans. A single piece of artil-
lery was heard beating time, as it were, to the
steady roar of musketry.
280 JED'S ADVENTURES.
While the wounded and dying were constantly
being borne to the rear, an occasional skulker or
coward sought to escape from peril by banda-
ging his arm, or with some other device, to reach
that safe retreat. The colonel rudely halted this
class of men, detaining them whether they be-
longed to his regiment or not.
The sun went down on this vast ensanguined
field, which was more like miles of disconnected
skirmisliing than a battle. The nature of the
combat was unparalleled in the history of fight-
ing, and fully justified by its nature the dissatis-
fied growls of Colonel Gruff, —
" Bushvacking — miles of bushvacking ! Yon
grand skirmish I "
As night came on, the firing died awa}^ along the
line as if by mutual consent of the combatants.
Men now boiled their coffee, smoked their pij^es,
or searched for missing comrades ; and then rolled
themselves in their blankets and slept under the
stars more soundly than men sleep in their beds
at home.
At five o'clock the next morning, when the sun's
light had illumined the tangled depths of this vast
forest, musket firing broke out afresh. The posi-
tion of the enemy could be guessed only by the
lines of Avhite, sulphurous smoke, which rose from
their muskets.
We soon, made an advance of half a mile through
the woods. In tliis advance the color bearer was
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 281
shot, and fell, exclaiming, " Don't let the flag go
down ! "
Sonny (whose real name was Joe Mayo) seized
the standard, and carried it proudly forward into
the storm of bullets. Colonel Gruff saw the act,
and shouted, —
" I makes you mine color sergeant, sir ! " Sonny,
promoted on the field of battle, might well be
proud.
During this advance through the maze of under-
brush, scrub pines, and oaks, the thickets were so
dense that we could not see a dozen yards right or
left, and had not been able to preserve our align-
ments.
Our course, which hitherto had been disputed
by sharpshooters and skirmishers, was now inter-
rupted by a roar of continuous musketry which
broke out from every thicket on our front.
To illustrate, let me say, to the uninitiated, that
this sounded, in miniature, as if bushels of lighted
fire-crackers had been thrown into miles of barrels
standing in a row.
Under this heavy firing we fell back, fighting
stubbornly at every step, and seeking shelter
behind stumps and trees from the angry bullets
that filled the air with ominous hissings.
In the smoke and confusion of this retreat, when
the fire was the hottest, we found ourselves
hemmed in on three sides by the enemy's infantry
fire.
282 JED'S ADVENTUBES.
On examination it was found that about twenty
of our company had become separated from the
main line ; among whom was Sonny (still carrying
the flag), Jed, and myself.
In trying to get back from the encircling mus-
kets, we came to a little clearing in the heart of
this forest, where we encountered Colonel Gruff,
who was leading his horse to the clearing.
Exclaiming, "We are cut off from the main
line I Save yourselves ! Don't be taken prison-
ers ! " he vaulted into the saddle, and with his
bridle in his teeth, and a six-shooter in his hand,
dashed across the clearing.
We saw two rebel cavalrj^men dart from the
thicket and give chase. The veteran did not spur
his horse to greater speed, though the cavalrymen
were gaining on him. We saw him reach a fence,
jump his horse over it, then resuming the bridle
with his teeth once more, turn in his saddle and
fire at his nearest pursuer. The cavalryman rolled
from his saddle.
" Jerusalem, that was cool I " exclaimed Sonny.
We, meanwhile, were following at good speed in
the same direction, occasionally coming to an about
face to repel, or keep at a respectful distance, the
enemy in our rear.
We had nearly crossed the clearing and reached
the fence when a volley was fired from the woods
on our left. Fortunately, most of the shot passed
over our heads, though one struck the flagstaff
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 283
carried by Sonny, cutting it off above his head,
near the colors.
"Drop the flag, drop it!" exclaimed several of
our squad, " it draws the fire." But Sonny refused
to abandon his flag, which he fixed to the staff
again, saying, —
" It sha'n't be touched by a reb as long as I
live ! "
We had now reached a thick pine covert to the
left of the course our colonel had taken. Jed and
I, with the remaining members of our party, deter-
mined to make a stand here, and send out two men
to reconnoitre.
Sonny volunteered for this duty. He came back
to us after a few minutes and said he "guessed it
was safe for us to try and reach the Brock road,"
where our main line was formed. \Ye noticed that
Sonny no longer carried the flag.
In advancing through the Avoods we met no
hinderances, though the roar of the conflict was
heard all around us.
We were still advancing through the woods
cautiously, keeping our alignments as far as possi-
ble, when, both on our light and on our left, there
came the order, —
" Halt ! Come in out of the cold, Yanks ! "
The order was decisive : and we had no alterna-
tive but to die or surrender, as the protruding mus-
kets on every side proclaimed. We had run
between two lines of Confederates formed at a,n
284 JED'S ADVENTURES.
angle in the woods. We were soon disarmed and
marched to the rear.
Jed had been in command of our squad during
the events narrated. He retained his composure,
though he knew his danger of being hanged as a
spy, should he be recognized by the Confederates
as one who for a time had worn their uniform. In
reply to my question of what he would do in such
a case, he said, —
'' Dick, I never think of it. When danger comes
it's time enough to face it. I am in God's hands
at all times. It makes but little difference when
we die, since, as Colonel Gruff says, ' We must all
die once ; ' but it does make a difference if we die
doing our duty, and with our trust in God undis-
turbed ; " and as Jed said this his face shone with
that inner light which is the reflection of a pure
soul.
I thought then, as I have often thought since,
" This is the faith of a Christian, and the courage
of a soldier."
We were kindly treated by our captors, as men
usually are by those they have been fighting against.
After wearisome marching we reached Richmond,
where we remained but a single day, and then,
without incident worthy of recital, were sent to
Lynchburg.
While here there was a little occurrence which
had so important a bearing upon our prison life as
to deserve mention.
GRANT TAKES COMMAND. 285
During the march I observed a negro servant of
one of the officers of the guard carrying an ordinary
three-pint pail.
" What have you got in that pail, Sam ? " I in-
quired.
" Massa's dinner," replied the colored man.
'' Let me see it, will you? " I asked.
He removed the cover and disclosed a tempting
dish of fried fish and buttered biscuit, which, as
I was hungry, I at once felt that I must have.
I had a new army overcoat, which had been a
decided encumbrance to me since my capture,
and this I offered in exchange for the pail and
contents.
He glanced around to see that no one was look-
ing, and then made the trade. How he afterwards
made his peace with his master I do not know, but
the little pail was so great a convenience to me in
cooking, while I was a prisoner, that its value could
not be rated in money. Thus incidents can never be
said to be insignificant until we know their relation
to that wliich follows.
While at Lynchburg, Jed saw one or two Confed-
erates whom he knew, but none of them recognized
him, which may have been due to the fact that he
now wore a mustache and beard, which he had cul-
tivated since leaving their lines.
We were finally embarked, with several hundred
other prisoners, on box-cars, sixty or seventy men
to a car. In five days we arrived at Charleston,
286 JED'S ADVENTURES.
South Carolina, where, after being kept in the jail-
yard one clay and night, we were again put on board
cattle-cars, and, two days later, reached Anderson-
ville Station, Georgia, thirty-five miles south from
Macon.
i;l:iffl|illk:;i!ll!;EI!ll!l!E!!:ll;ll;liilii:ii 1 J il 111 L J
CHAPTER XXV.
ANDERSONVELLE PRISON.
/^F Andersonville prison little was known by
^-^ those outside of it at that period. It had been
opened for the reception of captives in February,
1864, and the first instalment of victims had been
transferred here from Belle Island prison at that
time. We had, therefore, no conception of the
place to which we were to be consigned.
The prison was used for enlisted men only ; and
as Jed and myself had not yet received our com-
missions, we still wore our sergeants' dress, and on
capture our rank was judged by our uniform. We
made no protest against this, as I thought Jed would
stand a better chance of not being recognized among
a multitude, than among the comparatively few in
an of!icers' prison, and so it proved.
The rain was pouring in torrents when, on the
23d of May, about sundown, we arrived at Ander-
son Station. We were formed in single ranks on
the long platform of the depot, and were there
formally turned over to the prison guard.
A Confederate sergeant in gray uniform, whose
neck was twisted towards one shoulder, gave the
order, "AH you 'ns Yanks that can write, take
287
288 JED'S ADVENTURES.
one step forward." At this order the whole line
advanced, for we were mostly New England sol-
diers ; and if there were those who could not write,
they would not acknowledge it.
Thinking we had misunderstood him, the sergeant
repeated the order, with the same result.
A few sergeants were finally selected to take the
names of ninety men each, that number, for con-
venience in issuing rations, composing a squad in
the prison. We were marched east a short dis-
tance, by a road running through a little valley
surrounded by thick pine woods, when there loomed
up before us, in the moist atmosphere and gather-
ing darkness, a long line of palisade, the sight of
which gave me a shiver of foreboding and dread.
The rainfall and the chill of evening oppressed
me Avith gloom.
While halted before these walls, a little man on
a horse rode up, and at some remark from a pris-
oner began cursing frightfully, and striking, with
a cavalry sabre, at the prisoners standing in line.
It was Henry Wirtz, who commanded the interior
of the prison.
" Better keep on good terms with the old man,"
said one of the rebel guard suggestively.
The gates before us now swung inward, and we
were marched into the prison.
Many, oh, how many ! never passed through
those gates again, until they were carried to the
graveyard trenches beyond.
ANdersonville prison: 28d
Gaunt creatures, with shrunken forms and black-
ened faces, clothed in cUrty, ragged shreds of blue,
thronged around us as we entered the prison. The
impress of suffering and famine was over all. Their
dirt-clotted countenances, dishevelled hair, half-
naked limbs, and grotesque habiliments, for a while
made it impossible for us to realize that they, like
ourselves, were Union soldiers. Exposure to rain
and sun, starvation and confinement within the
deadly embrace of these prison walls, had oblite-
rated almost all semblance of manhood from these
patriotic men. Some stared apathetically at us, as
if at visitants from another world, in which they
no longer had a part. From their faces all hope
and cheerfulness had faded out.
Others gathered around us, and in plaintive,
tremulous, but eager voices, inquired for news of
the outside world from whence we came, or invited
trade. '^ Where is Sherman ? " — " What is Grant
doing?" — "Got any hard-tack or coffee to trade
for corn bread ? " -_ " Do you know when we are to
be exchanged?" are samples of the interrogations
which came from faltering lips. The last question
was the most common one. This, coming from
wretched men, hollow-eyed, famine-pinched, and
with scurvied, swollen faces, blue and trembling
with cold, dampness, and the weakness of famine,
made the questionings almost an appeal.
Though this scene brought a shiver of creeping
horror over many a man among us accustomed to
290 JEb'S ADVENfUMS.
face death in battle, yet we but feebly compre*
hended its full import then.
A revolting stench filled the moist atmosphere.
Our feet mired into a wallow of excrements at every
step. We constantly stumbled on squalid huts
scarcely high enough to creep under. These were
made of blankets, shirts, shreds of clothing, or were
built up with mud and roofed with brush or twigs
of pine.
Coming from ordinary scenes of war, this prison,
by contrast, was so horrible as to seem to be the
very jaws of death and the gates of hell. Within
its deadly maw all semblance of humanity was
crushed.
It appeared impossible that human beings could
exist in such a place. Our feet sunk in filth at
every step. We were conducted across a creek,
seemingly running with excrement instead of
water, which crept like a slimy, venomous serpent
through the centre of the prison.
The side hill beyond, we were told, was to be
our quarters. But where? The whole hillside
was so crowded with huts, and human forms lying
on the muddy ground, that at a first glance there
appeared to be no room for us. It was only by
scattering in groups of two and three at different
points that we finally found the needed space to
spread our blankets.
The ground selected by Jed, Sonny, and myself
for our lodging-place was filthy beyond belief ; but
ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 291
we were too tired to find better, and it was already
too dark to remedy matters, even if there were
better accommodations elsewhere.
Sadly thinking of my far-off Northern home and
friends, and of the terrible contrasts here, I fell into
a troubled sleep.
The sun was shining brightly when I was awak-
ened by men stumbling against me. As I arose to
my feet the daylight revealed, for the first time,
the whole prison area to my sight. In form the
enclosure of stockade was a parallelogram, shown
by after measurements to be ten hundred and ten
feet in length, and seven hundred and seventy-nine
feet six inches wide. The sides of this parallelo-
gram ran north and south. It enclosed two oppo-
site hillsides, and the valleys and plateaus back of
them.
Near the centre, running from east to west, was
the brook, from eight to ten feet in width, of which
mention has before been made. On each side of
this creek was a swampy marsh reaching to the foot
of both the north and south hillsides.
There were two gates, both on the east line of
the stockade, one on the plateau of the north hill-
side, the other the south. The stockade was built
of pine logs set upright in the ground, scored slight-
ly on the sides, so as to fit them closely together.
These were firmly held together by means of a plank
or slab, spiked on the outside and across the face of
the logs near the top.
292 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Sentry boxes, tlnrty-five in number, were scaf-
folded outside, close up to tKe stockade, so that the
guard could overlook the area within. The little
platform on which the guard were stationed came
within four feet of the to23 of the stockade, and was
reached by a ladder from the outside. These guards
were protected from rain and sun by a shed roof,
five feet above, and sloping from, the stockade.
No vegetation was in this pen. The dense growth
of pines formerly covering the ground had been
cleared away when the stockade Avas built.
As I went down the hill to wash myself at the
brook, I saw, for the first time, a little railing three
feet high, running eighteen feet from, and parallel
with, the stockade, inside and all around it. It
was made by nailing a strip of board about three
inches wide to the top of posts set firmly in the
ground.
''What is that for?" I asked an old prisoner.
"You'd better keep away from it if you don't
want to get shot," he replied. " That's the dead
line. I saw one of the guard shoot one of our old
men, the other day, while he was reaching over to
pick up a weed which was growing inside."
''What did he want of the weed?" I inquired
wonderingly.
" Don't know. Guess he wanted it to eat ; good
for scurvy," was the reply.
On every side strange and terrible sights greeted
me. Men were cooking at little fires scarcely large
ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 253
enough to make a blaze. Dead men, with unclosed
eyes, lay in the path by the side of the little huts.
Sick men with scurvied, bloated limbs were
endeavoring to eat while their teeth almost dropped
from their jaws. Wounded men, with festering,
unhealed wounds, were lying with naked limbs,
and with hair matted in the filth of their sur-
roundings.
With inarticulate, piteous whines, they looked
with their lustreless eyes or reached out their
withered, feeble hands in mute a2:)peal for help.
The}' were covered with vermin and maggots.
God in heaven I What horrors greeted every
step.
Finally, after trying to assist creatures to whom
no relief could come but death, I reached, through
festering corruption and filth, the brook of water
near the east side, bridged by tw^o logs. The
water was putrid with fecal matter, running from
the marsh. Where the brook crossed the dead
line and sluggishly passed out under the hindering
stockade, it was comparatively clear. Here the
dead line was undefined.
" Many a poor creature reaching for clear
water," said an old prisoner, " has been killed at
this spot, by a bullet from the guard."
I reached down from the logs, and, filling my
canteen, took a drink. The water w^as tepid and
had a boggy taste ; it was covered w^ith a greasy
scum, which, it was said, came from the cook-house
294 JED'S ADVENTURES.
on the margin of the branch, and just outside the
prison limits.
The sinks of the rebel guard were above on the
stream, and their filth came into the brook for
prisoners to drink.
After washing myself I attempted to make a
shorter cut through the marsh to the hillside. ' Its
passage was impossible ,• or in my repugnance to
the filth in which my feet deeply mired, I felt it to
be so.
The prisoners had used the marsh for sinks.
Here had accumulated tlie terrible filth of the
prison, mixed Avith the soil by the trampling of
many feet. The whole was a mass of festering
corruption.
The area of the quagmire was originally a boggy
swamp, ^jartially covered by stagnant water, over
which gathered a green, unhealthy scum. It was
now infested to the depth of twelve to thirty-six
inches by writhing maggots, bred from this filth, as
there was no drainage from this camp of twenty
thousand men. The stench which arose from
this marsh had in it alone the seeds of a
pestilence.
This is but a faint general picture of the scenes
which met our gaze that morning.
I returned to my comrades by the beaten path,
refreshed by my bath, notwithstanding all the
horrors I had encountered.
That day Jed, Sonny, and I formed a mess pre-
ANbERSONVtLLE PRISOJ^. 295
paratory to building a hut, and making the best of
our surroundings.
We had had no food since the day previous, and
were very hungry. One of my comrades bought a
johnny-cake of one of the prisoners, and from it
four of us made a breakfast. It was poorly cooked,
and might be described as stuck together with
water and a slight heat. But hunger is a good
substitute for nice cooking, and we ate it greedily,
notwithstanding the miscellaneous filth we found
in it.
We now set to work to construct a hut to pro-
tect ourselves from the rain and sun. In this we
were very fortunate, as we possessed four woollen
blankets and one of rubber.
For some reason our party had not been searched
for valuables or robbed of their blankets, as was
commonly the case with those who came into the
prison. It is doubtful if three men in the entire
prison could be found so well provided as we
were.
Two were appointed to prepare the ground for
our habitation while Jed went in search of some
sticks to make a framework for the hut. After a
persistent search he finally bought a handful of
sticks, for which he had paid two dollars in green-
backs, from one of the prisoners.
The ground was levelled by digging into the
side hill, and the clean soil from beneath replaced
the filthy surface soil. This we tramped hard and
2S6 JED'S ADVENTUkE^.
level. The embankment made by the cut in the
hillside was smoothed and sloped slightly back.
Two pieces of stick were set firmly in the ground
at each end of the level space, and across these
was lashed another for a ridge-pole. Two other
sticks, lower tlian the ridge-j^ole, with a stick
across fastened like it, Avere set for the front. Two
of our best blankets wei'e then pinned together
with wooden pins, and over this framework the
blankets were stretched, and pinned down to the
embankment in the rear and at the sides by means
of small sharp stakes driven into the ground. The
other side was then fastened to the lower ridge-
pole for the front.
We now had two blankets to sleep on, and the
poncho blanket mentioned, and which in case of
need might be hung up in front to protect us from
rain.
Such was the habitation that excited the envy
of our more miserable comrades.
During the day we bought some Indian meal and
cooked some mush in my little tin pail, for it was
not until four o'clock that afternoon that rations
were issued to us.
While engaged in cooking, an old prisoner, see-
ing my little tin pail, said, —
" If you want to sell that tin bucket, young feller,
I'll give you three dollars in greenbacks and a
piece of johnny-cake for it."
I declined to trade, whereupon he said, —
ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 297
" Your head is level, young feller. Whatever
else you sell, don't part with tliat tin bucket or
your blanket. It will be worth more to you than
a hundred dollars, for you'll stand some chance to
live here if you hold on to them."
I thought at the time that his estimation of the
value of the things was exaggerated, but it proved
to be a just one, as shown by my subsequent expe-
rience.
It began raining that afternoon in a steady, per-
sistent manner, and continued with but little inter-
ruption during the remainder of the month.
About four o'clock on that first day we had
rations issued to us of Indian meal, which had,
however, a preponderance of cob in its composi-
tion; also a few small beans or cow peas. The
ration of Indian meal was equal to about an ordi-
nary teacupful to each man, and the beans could
be held in the half-closed palm of the hand.
Such was our introduction to the living death of
Andersonville, and thus it was that we settled down
to the common life of prisoners. As bitter and
terrible as was the opening scene described, it
afterwards became inexpressibly worse, month by
month, during our stay there.
CHAPTER XXVI.
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON.
/^UR hut was very comfortable, and it was for-
^-^ tunate for us that it was so, for during the
succeeding month, rain fell persistently for twenty-
three days. This, to men comfortably housed and
fed, would not have caused great suffering, but to
the squalid inmates of Andersonville it was prolific
of disease, suffering, and death.
The great mass of prisoners had no shelter ex-
cept such as they had made of their scanty gar-
ments or blankets ; while large numbers, especially
of those newly arrived, had none at all. This
crowd of men was also nearly destitute of fuel for
cooking, and of cooking utensils.
The difficulty of preparing their rations (even
when they had food) during this rainfall, together
with the cold and discomfort and filth produced
thereby, had a depressing effect, which strong men
could scarcely resist.
The last day of June there were twenty thousand
suffering men within the deadly embrace of these
prison walls, where all finer sensibilities were
crushed in the struggle for life.
The absence of soap, together with the soot from
298
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON 299
fires made of pitch-pine roots or branches, soon be-
grimed our faces almost beyond recognition. Wash-
ing without soap simply distributed and rubbed in
the grime, so, to one not used to the sight, we ap-
peared to be black men. Habit, however, so accus-
tomed us to these disfigurements that they were
scarcely perceivable to ourselves.
Among these scenes Jed's high courage and al-
most womanly sympathy sustained and encouraged
all with whom he came in contact.
From our arrival in prison we had mingled but
little with other prisoners, and had attempted to
keep scrupulously clean.
Like most captives, we had only the clothing v/e
had worn into the prison, and an attempt to wash
these garments without soap destroyed without
cleansing them. We therefore abandoned all idea
of washing our clothes, and only practised daily
bathing our persons at the brook.
One day, thinking to make a shorter cut to the
stream, we came to the bottom of the north hillside,
where, in an attempt to cover the pestilential filth,
the quagmire had been filled in with soil excavated
from the hill. In this way an area of a hundred
square feet or more had been made habitable. Here
the prisoners had begun to erect little huts with
sides built of mud, and other shelter.
We found its unoccupied portions crowded with
dead and dying men, some lying with naked limbs
swollen and black with scurvy, others with hair
300 JED'S ADVENTURES.
matted in the surrounding filth, unable because of
weakness to escaxoe. They had come hither, and
had been unable to return. Some, too feeble to
articulate, held out their wasted hands with feeble
cries for help, looked at us appealingly with their
lustreless eyes, or pointed to their trembling, blood-
less lips, in mute entreaty for water or food.
We stopped and tried to help them, gave them
water, and attempted to wash the filth from their
persons. Some of these poor creatures had fester-
ing sores, in which were gathered maggots and
vermin.
Jed said but little, but tears ran down his face,
and his utterances were choked by sobs as he tried
to speak words of comfort to those to whom no
comfort could come. We could give them no food,
for which there was a common appeal : we had none.
Our sympathies were so aroused by the i^itiable
condition of these men, that their anguish seemed
more than we could bear. We had not then learned
the terrible truth, — that here we must resolutely
close the avenues of human sympathy, or quickly
be exterminated by its re-action on ourselves.
The best pliilosophy was to do all possible for
suffering comrades, keeping in mind the fact that
one could not really help them with sympathy. A
harsh sentiment, but the only one to adopt by such
as did not care to become in turn an object of pity,
or to be crowded out of existence by the pressure
of attendant miseries.
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON 301
The mental is to the physical, in such scenes, as
three to one. That man who could direct the con-
dition of his mind by force of will, and not leave it
to be the plaything of circumstances, survived these
long and agonizing imprisonments , for minds that
are controlled by will are often superior to the
simple wants of the body.
While engaged in trying to relieve these poor
creatures, we came upon a middle-aged man lying
in the filth. After we had washed his face and
hands there was a look on liis face, or an expression
in his eyes, that reminded me of some one I had
known. I tried in vain to recall where I had seen
him before. We helped him to his feet, and in
answer to our question of where his friends were,
he told us that he had no acquaintances in the
prison.
This was not an isolated case. There were many
such.
" Why not take him in with us ? " said Jed.
" We've got room for another in our ' shebang.' "
I Avas about to resist this, but the appealing and
familiar look on the face of the man we had rescued,
decided me to do as Jed suggested.
"If Joe Mayo" — Sonny's real name — "don't
object, we'll take him into our mess," I replied.
So Robinson, for thus he called himself, became an
inmate of our hut, and with Iris new surroundings
gradually gained strength.
At the time of our coming into the prison there
302 JED'S ADVENTURES.
were about fifteen thousand men there, but into
this crowded tlieatre of deatli there flowed a con-
stant procession of new victims from the battle-
fields of Grant's and Sherman's armies. They
brought into the prison the buoyancy of hope and
youth ; they soon became sick and squalid, hope-
less and idiotic, or were destroyed by the intense
cruelty of their prison life. The stockade seemed
to take on personality. Like the vision the great
Florentine saw,
*' It seemed as if 'gainst me it were coming,
With head uplifted and with ravenous hunger
So that the very air was made afraid."
Its gates poured out a constant stream of death,
met by an incoming tide of living victims.
In July, 2,204 prisoners died ; in August, 3,081.
Scurvy, diarrhoea, and every disease caused by
starvation and overcrowding, intensified its horrors
and increased the death rates.
Yet starvation, singular as the statement may
seem, decreased as well as increased the prison
death rates. Fevers could not take hold of men
destitute of fatty tissues, and had the prisoners
been well fed while in its crowded condition, fever
would have swept the prison like the simoon of
the desert.
In July the density of human life inside the
stockade was so great that, after taking out the
dead line and the quagmire, there was left only
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON. 303
about fifteen square feet of space to each person.
This would be a ratio of density equivalent to six
millions of people to the square mile.
It is a well-established fact that the death rates
of a city are in a direct ratio with the density of
its population, and hence the terrible mortality at
Andersonville. Want of proper and sufficient
food, and want of shelter from rain and sun, added
to this mortality.
On our arrival we had some money, with which
we bought wood of prisoners who had procured it
for sale in various ways. The scarcity of wood,
and the way in which it was sometimes procured,
is illustrated by the following incident.
I was on my way to the brook with Joe, to get
water, and at the same time was on the lookout
for wood at a reasonable price. As I went down
the little path that led to the brook, we came upon
a prisoner named John Moran, whose acquaintance
I had previously made, sitting patiently beside a
dead comrade.
" This is one of my chums who died last night,"
he explained. " I've tried to be kind to poor Bob,
for he was a good, brave fellow ; you can't do
much for a chum here, though. This boy and I
have fought and marched and been prisoners
together, and now the poor fellow is dead."
Observing near him a pile of pine branches I
inquired, —
" Don't you want to sell some of your wood ? "
304 JED'S ADVENTURES.
" Tain't mine, it's my chum's," he replied.
" Where did you get it? "
" Swapped off a dead man for it." Seeing my
puzzled look he explained, —
" When one of our boys gets sick we take as
good care of him as we can , but after he is dead,
we keep a sharp lookout to see that no one steals
him to carry him outside to the dead-house. You
see, old chap, if we didn't keep our eyes peeled,
some other fellers around here would grab our
dead man and swap him off for a wood-pile."
Sonny gave a prolonged and characteristic
whistle, while my astonished look led to a further
explanation.
" Why, don't you understand ? me and my chum
are going to carry this man in our blanket to the
dead-house, just outside the gate, and when we are
returning we can pick up enough wood to last a
month. Why, that dead man is worth a ten-dol-
lar bill to me."
I soon found out the truth of this statement ;
and it was seldom that a prisoner was fastidious
enough to lose the " wood-pile," represented by a
dead comrade, for mere sentiment. Meanw^hile,
dry wood littered the ground outside the palisade,
and a pine forest was within a few rods of the
prison.
I had often noticed, as in this case, a small j^iece
of brown paper pinned upon the breast of the dead
man, with his name, company, regiment, State,
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON. 805
and date of death written upon it. I inquired who
placed it there.
'' The sergeant of a squad," was the reply, " is
supposed to attend to that. He gets an extra
ration for labelling the dead and dealing out the
grub ; but if we didn't do it ourselves, like's not,
he'd claim our dead man."
The scene will, at a first glance, impress the
reader as unfeeling and brutal ; and yet this man
was brave and generous, as the reader will hereafter
learn. Death was so common, and often so happy
a release from suffering, the struggle for life was so
intense, that death lost its sacredness, and the
kindliest of comrades did not neglect to help him-
self in this manner.
It was common to see a man caring for a dying
comrade with great tenderness, and with an admi-
rable sacrifice of his own wants, and then show
fight if any one attempted, after death, to cheat
him out of his right to carry the corpse to the
dead-house.
Jed was soon elected sergeant of our squad of
ninety men. It was one of the duties of this officer
to draw rations and distribute them to his squad.
Our food was so meagre that men were queru-
lous over its distribution, and it was therefore
needful that the person who drew and •distributed
the rations should have the confidence of the men
to whom they were issued. Jed's mingled firmness
and good nature, with the confidence men instinc-
306 JED'S ADVENTURES.
tively had in his goodness, made this selection a
judicious one.
The sergeant of a squad was entitled to an extra
ration, but this Jed never took. The squads of
ninety were also divided into smaller squads of
ten or fifteen for convenience in dividing rations.
The new prisoners coming into the stockade were
put into the old detachments, which in this way
were kept full.
The teams with rations usually came in at the
north gate. These rations consisted of Indian meal
and sometimes of sides of bacon. As a whole
there was a large quantity, but when subdivided
among twenty or thirty thousand men it gave to
each one but a small quantity.
Shortly after Jed's appointment I attended the
drawing of rations at the main or northern gate.
The rations were brought in large wagons drawn by
mules, driven by colored men, and superintended,
in some cases, by prisoners detailed for this pur-
pose.
A street or path to which was given the name
of Broadway, led from the gate through the stock-
ade from east to west. Here, at ration time, was
gathered a motley crowd. With eager, hungry
eyes they watched each division of the food, the
sight of which seemed to have a strange fascination
for the hungry wretches, long unused to full
stomachs. They crowded to the wagons to get a
sight of each bag of meal or piece of meat.
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON, 307
The attempt to grasp a morsel which sometimes
fell from the wagon, the j^iteous expression of dis-
appointment on their pinched and unwashed faces
if they failed, the involuntary exclamations, and
the wistful, hungry look, had in it a pathos not
easily described.
I once remarked to Jed that I thought it singu-
lar that men should aggravate themselves by con-
stantly looking at food which they could not get
to eat.
" God help them ! " said Jack Moran, who was
standing near, '' it means life or death to them and
to us all."
Jack, of whom I have before made mention, was
a large man, thin and somewhat bent, though not
by age. His head, on which bristled coarse black
hair, was large, his forehead broad and knotty, and
his mouth square cut. There was in his face and
manner an indescribable something which showed
nerve, will, and endurance.
While there was nothing in his dress to betoken
it, there was that in his manner which led me to
believe that he had been a sailor.
" This food," said he, '' draws men as money
does on 'change. It's like a magnet to them.
Look at that swarm of flies and gnats on the food :
they are bred from the festering marsh below.
We couldn't eat such food but for our terrible
famine. Most of the men here seem to have but
two ideas, — patriotism and hunger. You would
808 JED'S ADVENTURES.
think that any of these men would accept of an
offer to go out and work at their trades for the
sake of food, but they won't do it. Hungry as
they look, patriotism seems here to have survived
even a sense of decency. A few days ago I saw
men like these mob a Confederate officer, who
came in to get shoemakers. He offered them food,
rations of tobacco, clothes, and shelter. They
wouldn't go."
After the drawing of rations, a dense throng of
prisoners always gathered near the north gate to
trade. One with tobacco cut in little bits not
larger than dice might be seen trying to trade it
for rations. Another could be heard crying out,
" Who will trade a sou^) bone for Indian meal ? "
" Who'll trade cooked rations for raw? " " Who'll
trade beans for wood?" While others with small
pieces of dirty bacon an inch or two in size, held
on a sharpened stick, would diive a sharp trade
with some one whose mouth was watering for its
possession. But for its misery, the scene would
often have been intensely comical.
The dirty faces, anxious looks, and grotesque
garments (old prisoners sometimes wearing noth-
ing but a pair of drawers) and the loud cries, so
much in contrast with the usual value of the arti-
cle offered, had a humorous side not hard to appre-
ciate even by men as miserable as themselves.
The struggles of these thousands, all striving to
better their condition by barter and trade, was
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON. 309
pathetic. How each hetterecl his condition by the
process of trade I could never learn.
" I usually eat what food I get as soon as I can
cook it," said Moran, " for if I attempt to divide
it into three meals, I suffer constantly from the
fear that I may lose it. The simplest way is to
eat all you get at once and so save yourself further
worry and aggravation."
I found this good philosophy, for if a prisoner
ate his entire day's rations at once, he did not
have too large a meal, as no one ever got enough
at any one time to satisfy hunger. And while
very few instances were known of prisoners steal-
ing food from acquaintances, there were many half-
demented, wandering tatterdemalions, who might
chance to come upon an unguarded ration, and eat
it in the most innocent and absent-minded manner
before its owner could rescue it.
"Moran's remedy," as Jed called it, was the
only real security for an unconsumed ration.
That there was good in the method, was shown by
the fact that Jed and myself, who adopted the
"remedy," retained our strength better than the
majority of prisoners.
Joe Mayo, or as we have more often called him,
" Sonny," suffered from perpetual hunger.
" I'm tightening my belt every day," said Joe.
"Heaven knows when I shall come together in
fatal collapse. I tell yer, fellers, we've got to go
into some kind of business. There's Jack Moran,
810 JED'S ADVJENTUllES.
he sells ' sour beer,' with a little 'lasses and
ginger in it. I'm goin' into somethin' to fill
up on."
Here, it is needless to say. Sonny expressed a
thought that Jed and I had discussed many times.
We had not long been prisoners before we discov-
ered that men here, as in other conditions in life,
in order to " get on," and preserve life, must adopt
some trade or business. This necessity made men
ingenious. Some set up as bakers, and bought
flour and baked biscuits which they sold to such
as had money to buy. The ovens which were
built showed such ingenuity as to extort expres-
sions of surprise from the Confederates who occa-
sionally visited us. The soil contained a red pre-
cipitate of iron which was very adhesive. This
was made into rude bricks by mixing the earth
with water, and the oven was built of these over a
mould of sand. After being left to harden in the
sun for a few days the sand was removed, a fire
was kindled, and the oven was ready for use.
Others made wooden buckets to hold water, whit-
tling out the staves and making the hoops with a
jack-knife. Others purchased (of outside parties)
sheet tin, generally taken from the roofs of railway
cars, and with a railway spike and a stone for tools,
made small camp kettles, without solder, by bend-
ing the pieces ingeniously together. These were
eagerly purchased by those who had money. As
no cooking utensils were possessed by the prisoners,
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON. Bll
except such as they had brought into prison with
them, these tinmen were benefactors.
Others tinkered broken-down watches, the object
of their owners being simply to make them " go " long
enough to effect a trade. The purchaser was usually
a Confederate, who found these watch owners easier
to interview before the trade than afterwards, when
he desired to bring them to an account for selling
watches that refused to go unless carried by the
purchaser.
Others fried flap-jacks of Indian meal, and sold
them hot from the griddle for ten cents each.
Among the professional men were brewers, who
vended around the camp, beer made of Indian meal
soured in water. This was sold for vinegar, and
proclaimed by the venders to be a cure for scurvy
and diarrhoea, but was principally used as a refresh-
ing drink.
Moran had added ginger and molasses to the
compound, and made, as he termed his success, a
" boom " by vending it. He became so rich as to
buy food, and so regained his health and strength.
Another occupation was cooking beans, and also
mush, and selling them. Broadway, near the gate,
was the scene of most of the trading done in camp.
Here also could be seen gamblers with dirty
"sweat boards," on which could be staked five or
ten cents. The eager throng which pressed around
the anxious, hungry vender of cooked beans was
duplicated often at the gamblers' board.
812 JED'S ADVENTURES.
Shortly after the foregoing conversation about
going into business, Joe absented himself from our
quarters most of the time, except at rations, for
several days. We noticed that he had cut the but-
tons off liis coat, and also that a watch-chain was
missing from his visible possessions. On noticing
these symptoms Jed said, " Joe has gone into busi-
ness, I guess." And so it proved.
I was on Broadway to assist Jed in drawing the
squad rations, when we heard some one roaring
out, " Stewed beans with vinegar on tew 'em."
Now vinegar was a much desired article among
scurvied men, and one which they naturally craved,
and consequently there was a great rush to see, if
not to taste, the unusual article proclaimed.
" That's Sonny's voice," said Jed. When we had
got through the crowd near enough to be heard, we
said, " Joe, Joe ! let us taste your vinegar." Jed
took the first taste, and made up a disgusted face.
It was nothing but sour beer.
Joe was having a rush of trade, and got " shut "
of his beans, as he exjDressed it, wonderfully
quick.
For a few days Sonny looked quite contented
and happy ; but all flowers fade, and so did Joejs
flower of prosperity. He came into the hut one
day with a most woe-begone air, and after some
questioning as to the cause of his melancholy, con-
fessed that during a spell of dull trade he had eaten
up his entire stock in trade, and had no means to
LIFE AND DEATH IN PRISON, 313
begin again in the morning. He was " busted," as
he called it, by this one act of indiscretion.
" What made you such a doggoned fool as to eat
yer beans ? " queried Kentuck}^ who was present.
'' Well, plague it ! " confessed Sonny dubiously,
" just at that time my appetite was a blasted sight
bigger than my brains."
After this Sonny, naturally brave and courage-
ous, got the scurvy, lost heart, and gradually sick-
ened, like many others in the prison.
CHAPTER XXVIT.
IN THE JAWS OF DEATH.
AFTER this shipwreck of his business, Joe be-
came despondent and hopeful by turns. He
had what old prisoners called " exchange on the
brain." He " took too much stock," as Moran ex-
pressed it, in the ill-defined rumors of an exchange,
with which the prisoners were constantly deluded.
The high hopes excited were followed by corre-
sponding depression.
Moran, who now often visited us, remonstrated
with Joe. " You will get out just as soon if you
don't believe everything you hear about such mat-
ters. Keep up a general hopefulness, but don't tie
to false hopes."
During July Joe complained of a sore foot. He
had several times been down to the quagmire, to
tread out, with his bare feet, pine knots and roots
for fuel to cook our food. Here let me explain that,
terrible as this swamp was, men could be seen at
all hours thus engaged, so great was the want of
fuel. Joe had a scratch on his foot, which had be-
come inoculated with the poison of the swamp.
One morning he came into the hut with the tears
coursing down his dirty face, crying in the most
314
IN THE JAWS OF DEATH. 315
disconsolate tones, " I've got the darnedest sore toe
you ever saw."
All day Joe sat with his foot in his hands, crying
like a child, and repeating in dismal tones, " I've
got an awful sore toe." There certainly never was
such howling over a sore toe before. We ceased
to laugh or smile, however, when we found the poor
fellow's leg swollen to the hip.
The condition of low vitality among the pris-
oners made the poison of the swamp terrible when
it got into the sliglitest wound.
After some debate, at Joe's request we concluded
to take him to the south gate, where surgeons were
stationed each morning to determine who were fit
subjects for the hospital, which at our coming had
been inside the prison, but was now outside. As
the number who were admitted was determined by
the number who died, there was no certainty of
getting a patient admitted simply because he
needed treatment.
Scores died daily inside the stockade whom no
medical officer had ever seen, and if they had they
could not have attended them there. Some morn-
ings the surgeons did not come to the gates at all,
and the thi^ong of miserables turned hopelessly
away.
Jed and I assisted Joe to the south gate. The
sight here was one we had not before witnessed.
A packed mass of men, some carrying stretchers on
which were laid the dead, with unclosed eyes, dirt-
316 JED'S ADVENTURES.
clotted faces, and falling jaws, mingled with the
crowd. Here, also, awaited the sick and dying.
Those borne on stretchers were sometimes over-
turned in the crowd, those limping on crutches
were rudely jostled by the miserable throng. When
at last the gates were thrown open, those carrying
the dead jostled against the sick, and the whole
mass struggled and shrieked, clamored and surged,
in one terrible mass of suffering. Such was the scene
that met our gaze as we conducted Joe to the gate.
" Take me back, take me back ! " cried Joe, shud-
dering. "I'd rather die than attem^^t to pass
through the gate in this awful crowd."
That afternoon the quartermaster came to our
hut, and said that he understood that Joe was a
blacksmith, and if he would go out and work at his
trade they would have him doctored and well fed,
and he'd soon get well.
" You needn't take the oath," explained the Con-
federate officer. '' We want you to take the place
of a man that's to be sent to the front."
Joe at first had opened his eyes wide with delight
at the proposition, but now shook his head and
said, —
"No, sir! I'm pretty far gone, and I'm pretty
low down and dirty, but I won't work for a secesher.
No, sir ; not if I know Joe ! '*
" You are a doggoned fool to die in here when
you can get out and live," was the contemptuous
exclamation of the officer, as he turned away.
IN THE J A WS OF DEA TH, S17
"Maybe I am," groaned Joe, "but I couldn't
look my old dad in the face again after playing
traitor."
Daily Joe grew thinner and thinner. Early one
morning, not long after, I was awakened by Jed,
who said, " I believe Joe is dying."
Joe, on my approach, looked up at me with some-
thing of his old brightness, saying, "Let me be
buried with the flag."
"His mind wanders, poor fellow," said Robinson.
" Pray for me, Jed," feebly ejaculated Joe, not
noticing Robinson's remark. And as we all knelt
by his side, wliile holding his hand, Jed repeated
that sweetest, simplest, and most comprehensive of
all prayers, " Our Father, who art in heaven."
The first few words the sufferer repeated feebly
after him, but when we arose from our knees poor
Joe's eyes had no answering look. He was dead.
Thus suddenly men died all over the prison. At
one moment I have seen a comrade eating, or try-
ing to eat, his rations, and the next found him dead.
It seemed that if the will failed a prisoner for a
moment only, it left him stranded on the shoals of
death.
We were preparing Joe's body for the grave that
day by washing his person. While removing his
clothing, Robinson gave a start of surprise and ex-
claimed, "What is this!" There was a heavy
cloth of some kind wrapped around the upper part
of Joe's body. When unrolled it proved to be our
318 JED'S ADVENTURES.
regimental flag. He had carried it in his last battle
folded around his body.
A crowd of prisoners collected around us, and
tears came to their eyes at sight of the dear old
flag.
'' Let it be buried with him. He was a common
man, but he was a hero," said Moran, when we told
him of the circumstances wliich the reader already
knows.
Tears ran down our faces as we once more
wrapped him in the flag he had carried so bravely
in the fight, — a fitting shroud for a soldier.
A member of the burial squad afterwards in-
formed us that Joe's wish had been complied with,
and that he had been buried in the graveyard
trench with the flag he loved folded about him.
Such Avere the heroes who died here by thou-
sands, that tills Republic might live. They could
starve and die, but they could not desert the cause
of their country, even to save their lives.
It was my custom since I had been a prisoner, to
visit the south gate when new prisoners came into
the stockade, to get news from our armies. In
this way I not only managed to keep very well in-
formed of the progress of our armies in the field,
but had also met a number of acquaintances.
One afternoon at the close of a hot day, I had
visited the gate to see this incoming tide, which
daily fed the prison. Among the new prisoners I
recognized Henry Grace. I spoke to him, but he
IN THE JAWS OF DEATH. 319
did not know me, so changed was I by hunger,
scurvy, and filth. He finally remembered me, and
the first question he asked was the same that I
had put to old prisoners Avhen I first entered the
prison, —
" Why don't you keep yourselves clean here ? "
I tried to explain to him, but, like all other new
prisoners, he could not understand.
Jed was delighted to make the acquaintance of
a prisoner so bright and clean. Grace's coming
seemed to give new life to all of us for a while,
and he was invited to take poor Joe Mayo's place
in our mess.
Early the next morning, Grace awakened me by
saying, —
'' Where do you wash ? "
I explained that we washed at the brook, and
offered to accompany him thither. As we passed
on our way we could see the liill slopes crowded
with little huts. Scarcely a sign of life could be
seen at this early hour in camp. It was a corralled
army sleeping. Perhaps there was never seen so
much of human misery massed together and silent.
The stillness was gradually broken; here and
there little fires appeared, and soon the whole camp
was awakened, to battle for one more day with the
doom that overshadowed it.
The filthy stream and its surroundings excited
Grace's disgust, and at first he refused to bathe in
itt But he overcame his repugnance on being told
320 JED'S ADVENTURES.
that it was cleaner in the morning than at any
other time.
In July, when the news reached us of Stone-
man's raid, the expectations of the prisoners were
roused to the highest pitch. The rebels were so
alarmed that they began firing shell over our heads.
General Winder had the grounds staked off with
white flags for ranges, and issued an order to open
fire on the stockade Avith the artillery, if the Yankee
cavalrymen came within seven miles of it. This
we did not know at the time.
About the 7th of July, the captured cavalrymen
of Stoneman's command came in as prisoners, and
told us the news of his capture and the consequent
failure of the raid. This raiding column had
reached the outskirts of Macon.
Thus one by one perished the hopes of release,
except by death, of the miserables in " Camp Sum-
ter."
Our rations steadily . became worse and less.
The meal was principally of cob ground with the
corn, Avhile the beans were very wormy. They
soon began to issue cooked rations to about one-
third of the prisoners. These were brought into
the prison in wagons in Avhich the dead had been
carried to the trenches.
The foul marsh gave out its deadly stench, con-
taminating the air for miles around. The death
rates increased constantly. The long, terrible days
dragged slowly by, and yet there came no word of
iN THE JAWS OF DEATH. 32l
hope, except the cheering news of a victory by
Sherman.
In July there were thirty-five thousand inmates
of the stockade. Then the prison was enlarged
by an addition on the north side, which made the
area sixteen hundred feet in length by ten hundred
and ten feet in width, and Ave got the timber which
separated the old from the new stockade for fuel.
Shortly after this an immense rainfall, accompa-
nied by thunder and lightning, caused a freshet
which swept away the stockade at the points where
the brook entered and left the prison. Before the
stockade was carried away, the quagmire was
flooded ; and when the lower stockade was broken
by this flood, the water poured out with such vol-
ume and strength as to remove the fecal filth and
maggots which had accumulated to the depth of
several feet.
If the prisoners had at this time made one gen-
eral rush they could have overpowered the guard
and escaped. What they could have done after
that is another question. Had they in such an
event kept together in large numbers, they could
not have been fed from the country, and if they
scattered they were liable to be captured or shot
down in detail. The chief cause of not making a
break at this time, however, was want of organi-
zation and the demoralization of hunger.
The Confederates soon had artillery and infantry
stationed at the broken portions of the stockade.
322 JED'S ADVENTURE^.
After this storm a spring of pure water was dis-
covered inside the dead line, trickling down the
north hillside. It was about half-way between the
north gate and the brook which ran through the
prison.
As many marvels have been related of this so-
called " Providence Spring," it is well perhaps to
exj)lain its origin. The whole north hillside was
springy land. Quite a number of prisoners had
availed themselves of this fact by digging shallow
wells, and thus obtaining water. But these wells
soon became contaminated with filth, and the edges
trampled and muddy, so that they were but little
used.
After the discovery of "Providence Spring,"
prisoners were allowed to construct a spout by
nailing two pieces of board together at right angles,
one end of which was thrust into the running
spring, in such a manner as to catch the water.
The spout was pointed slightly down hill and
nailed to the dead line. This conducted a stream
of pure water into the stockade. The prisoners
after this might have been seen formed in two and
four ranks, patiently waiting in the heat, by thou-
sands, to fill their canteens, cups, and buckets,
with its cool waters.
I was told that this spring had long been known
to the people of that region, but that during the
construction of the stockade it had been filled up.
The freshet had removed the soil again, and the
m THE JA WS OF DEA TH. 32B
spring had burst out afresh, giving its pure waters
to the suffering Union soldiers. This is probably
the true solution of its sudden and salutary appear-
ance. In any case, it was not extraordinary, for a
gulley alone, made by the water running swiftly
down the hillside, was sufficient to account for its
existence in a place so springy.
Moran had noAV moved his quarters nearer us,
and often assisted us by his advice.
A big French Canadian, known in prison as " Big
Pete," and having a large capital of brute strength
and courage, had, about the time of our coming
into the prison, "set up" as Chief of Police. He
had gradually enlarged his sphere of action to that
of Judge ; and if his trials were comical to the spec-
tator, they were seldom so to the culprit.
One of my acquaintances described his fist (with
a vividness which showed intimate knowledge) as
being as " big as a teakettle."
Big Pete became a terror to evil-doers ; and to
strengthen his rule, he appointed policemen to
execute his commands. Moran was one of these
officials.
One night, shortly after Grace's arrival, we heard
a voice outside calling Grace by name.
"What is wanted?" inquired one of us.
" You keep still and none of you will be hurt.
Our business is with Grace," was the reply.
Grace had by this time got to his feet, stepped
outside the shelter, and confronted the intruders.
324 JED'S ADVENTURED.
We soon heard a desperate struggle, and rushed to
the scene. Two or three men had Grace, who,
though small, was an athlete, in their grasp. We
attempted to assist liim, but were beaten back.
Others came to the assistance of the raiders. Sud-
denly a tall, dark form was seen to spring in among
the raiders and deal them terrible blows with a
club, until, groaning and shrieking, they scattered
in the darkness.
The man who had thus opportunely come to our
assistance was Moran.
" What is the meaning of all this ? " we inquired.
" The raiders were trying to rob the boy ! " ex-
plained Moran. Grace had been badly choked, but
was otherwise uninjured.
" How came they to pitch into you so soon ? "
asked Moran, who understood their methods.
" They asked me to hand out my watch and
mo'ney. I refused, and they went for me," said
Grace.
Here in explanation let me say that these raiders
were a band of thieves under the leadership of one
Bill Collins, better known to prisoners as " Mosby,
the raider." This band of ruffians, it was after-
wards ascertained, was largely made up of bounty
jumpers, who had at first deserted to the Confede-
rates. They, not pleased with their society, had
sent them to Andersonville, that they might be ex-
changed for their own men.
These rascals had fu-st begun their operations at
IN niE J A WS OF DBA TIL 825
Belle Isle and Salisbury, where they were known
as the " Muggers." Their methods were to find
out during the day the name and stopping-place of
such as had money, and then at night call them
out and rob them.
Not long after this the gang became so bold that
they murdered men who refused to submit to being
robbed. About eighty of them were arrested by
Big Pete's prison police, with the assistance of the
Confederate quartermaster, Duncan, and a squad
of Confederate soldiers. A jury was empanelled,
counsel for the prosecution and for the accused se-
lected, and six of them were tried and found guilty
of theft and»murder.
On the eleventh day of July, 1864, these six
prisoners were hanged on a gallows inside the
stockade. Considering the crimes common to a
city of thirty thousand people, under the restraints
of law, it was wonderful that among men suffer-
ing so terribly, and where there were no restraints
except those imposed by themselves, that so little
violence occurred at Andersonville.
After this execution the camp was as orderly as
any military camp, and any one having authority
could keep order.
Moran one day introduced us to a prisoner known
as *' Kentucky." He was bent down and starved
to a shadow by long imprisonment, but he possessed
audacity and courage, and was a natural leader of
men.
§S6 JED'S ADVENTURED,
One day lie remarked, "I say, stranger, look
a-hyer, we've got a right smart hole dug, out yon."
I did not comprehend, and exclaimed with some
surprise, "What?"
"A tunnel," responded he. "Don't you see?
our boys have got one a'most dug, and we are goin'
to open the hole, and git to God's country."
Moran, who had been listening, said, " Yes ; I
brought Kentucky up here, so that if he liked the
looks of you he could tell you about it."
About dark, in company with Jed and Moran, I
visited a hut near the dead line, where four of
Kentucky's chums lay on a blanket, smoking and
talking. I was introduced. ^
"Where's the tunnel ? " I inquired. One of them
quickly rolled back the blanket on which they had
been lying, removed the earth from the back of the
hut, near the dead line, revealing a poncho blanket.
This was pulled away, showing a hole much like
a small well. This was covered by sticks.
" Here is the entrance," said Kentucky, clearing
away the sticks and getting into the hole. " Come
on ; " and with this brief command he disappeared,
and I followed.
At the mouth of the tunnel Kentucky had picked
up a couple of haversacks and half a canteen, which
he used as a scoop. " Don't rise your back up, or
the plaguy thing will cave in on us," said Ken-
tucky.
It was hot and uncomfortable in the tunnel, and
IM THE J A WS OF DBA Til. 32?
before I had crawled very far I felt like backing
out; but as there was no room in which to turn
around, and as others were behind me, I could not
do so.
Kentucky soon scooped up a haversack full of
soil and passed it to me ; I passed it to Jed behind
me ; he passed it to Moran, and so on, until the
sack reached the mouth of the tunnel, where it
was taken out, carried to the swamp and dumped.
In this way we worked nearly two hours in the
intense darkness.
I did not have entire confidence in the tunnel,
and this feeling was increased by Kentucky's cool
remark that " if I rose my back like a cat the thing
mought cave."
I came out of the tunnel at eleven o'clock. I
knew the time by the guard calling from post to
post, " Eleven o'clock and all is well," as was their
custom at each hour of the night.
The next morning, Kentucky came to our hut
and said, —
" I've concluded to open the tunnel to-night.
Come up to our shebang 'bout noon, and we'll
talk it over."
As I was making my way to his quarters at the
appointed time, I was met by Kentucky, who said
in quiet tones, —
" Don't go up there, our fixin's are bust. That
doggoned old Duncan (the rebel quartermaster)
came along this morning with his durned iron
S28 JED'S ADVENTURE^.
prod and slumped it into our tunnel. He has set a
lot of our boys at work filling it in."
It seems that it was the custom of that function-
ary, Duncan, every morning to prod around inside
the dead line with a long, sharpened iron bar to
discover tunnels.
The tunnels usually ran near the surface of the
ground, and were held up by the interlacing fibres
of roots inside the dead line. Fresh soil scattered
on the black prison ground usually excited sus-
picion, and the prod of the quartermaster did the
rest. In this manner scores of tunnels were de-
tected.
At one time the rebels discovered a tunnel over
a hundred feet long. At another time the stockade
was undermined in four places, for the purpose of
breaking it and liberating the prisoners. At the
time set for breaking the stockade the rebels
announced that they were aware of the plan, and
had the names of the ringleaders, and at the first
demonstration would take them out and punish
theni.
" There is no mistake but that the outside au-
thorities were terribly frightened, and justly so,"
said Moran, when narrating the incident.
Although the tunnel had failed, it set us to
thinking up plans of escape, and led to results
shown in another chapter.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
TUNNELLING OUT.
/^NE month after the scenes narrated in the
^-^ foregoing chapter, a group had gathered
around our hut.
That terrible day was ahnost at its close. The
tall pines outside the western limit of the palisade,
now that its inmates no longer needed shade,
threw their lengthened shadows within the enclo-
sure.
The stench from the swamp, absorbed in part by
the heat during the day, polluted the air with pes-
tilential breath.
The prison rations had just been issued, and
thirty thousand men were for the hour intent on
cooking, eating, or clamoring to exchange their
scanty rations with each other in the vain hope of
getting more palatable food.
As the shadows lengthened, the discordant out-
cries softened into confused murmurs, and men
gathered in little groups around their squalid huts
to talk of home or food.
The ragged, famine-pinched group at our hut
were talking of exchange. They had previously
329
330 JED'S ADVENTURES,
exhausted their ingenuity in discussing the manner
in which they would have food cooked when they
once more reached " God's Country," as they not
irreverently call the Union lines.
Moran, who had taken no part in the conversa-
tion, now impatiently exclaimed, —
" What is the use in talking ? Let us do some-
thing to get away from this awful place, where
men die like sheep, without a hand raised against
their enemies ! "
There was silence for a moment, as if the propo-
sition involved consequences too serious for unpre-
meditated talk. A voice, high-pitched and tremu-
lous with weakness, finally replied, —
" I'm in for any plan. Jack, that wdll give us a
reasonable chance for life."
The speaker, who had been sitting in a crouch-
ing position, here looked up and revealed the
almost girlish face of Henry Grace, now haggard
and pinched with famine and covered with dirt.
One would be slow now to see in that face
indications of the iron resolution and reckless
courage for Avhich he was known among soldiers
and prisoners. Jack Moran had also changed for
the worse. Jed was terribly thin and haggard.
"I think," said Kentucky, who was visiting us,
" my best chance to get out is to wait until I'm a
little thinner and then crawl through the cracks of
the stockade."
*'Yes," drawled Grace, "and then you'll only
TUNNELLING OUT, 331
have to turn sideways to be invisible to the
enemy."
At this the group of ragged starvelings laughed
as other men laugh, for humor is the last sentiment
that dies out of the hearts of brave men.
"Well," said Jed, ''it isn't any use worrying
about chances, for our chances can be no worse
in trying to get out than in remaining here."
" That's bravely said," said Moran approvingly :
" there isn't one chance in thirty for us to live here
six months. There's over a hundred deaths each
day in this 'hell's ten-acre lot.' "
" Ain't that rather a rough name for a Confed-
erate boarding-house?" said Grace, with his old
humor twinkling in his eyes at Moran's explosive-
ness.
I agreed heartily with Moran's views, and so did
all of our party but Robinson, who, having a settled
repugnance to experiments, only said, —
" You'll get yourselves killed, when, if j^ou'd
wait, you might be exchanged."
"Haven't we been in this place waiting since
May ? " said Jed, " and aren't half our boys dead
already ? "
" That's a clincher," drawled Grace approvingly.
It was finally agreed, and even Robinson assented,
that we should unite in another effort to escape
from the prison. As we had but one chance in
ten for life in this horrible place, all felt that it
was better to condense the chances against us iu
832 JED'S ADVENTURES,
one effort to avoid the doom which threatened the
hopeless inmates of Anderson ville.
Various places were talked over for the contem-
plated attempt. Moran thought a tunnel might be
successfully dug from one of the sheds Avhich had
been lately erected in the " new stockade."
It was, as he argued, farthest from the gate, and
consequently we could get warning if the quarter-
master should make one of his prying visits.
Again, the guard, being at a long distance from
their officers, would be less watchful at this point
than nearer. It was also near the woods. A plan
outlined by Jed was finally adopted. He proposed
digging a tunnel from an unfinished well at the
northeast part of the stockade. This had all the
advantages, and none of the hinderances, of the
other plans.
The place was less thickly inhabited here, and
the digging of the well gave us a plausible excuse
for being seen there, and for disposing of the soil
excavated from the tunnel under pretence of com-
pleting the well. It was a good plan, and was
adopted.
" I go for pushing it through at once, for I need
exercise to take down my fat," said Kentucky, who
never could resist presenting the ludicrous side even
of a serious subject.
" You are too full of nonsense," said Robinson
reproachfully.
^' Well, I feel that it's better to laugh than to
TUNNELLING OUT. 333
cry," said Kentucky, "and I am sure it pays
better."
" I don't think it pays to do either," said Moran.
" If a man's courage isn't good without whistling
to keep it up, it's not good for much."
" I've noticed, though, that men with some fun
in them have more earnestness and courage than
the solemn ones when the nip comes," drawled
Grace.
Everything favored our plan. There was great
need of a well at this part of the stockade, as it was
a long distance for weak men to walk either to
"Providence Spring" or to the "Branch" for
water. So Jed, Moran, Robinson; Grace, and my-
self all moved our belongings nearer to the well,
and here not only set up housekeeping, but sud-
denly exhibited great enthusiasm at well-digging.
The tunnel was begun in the well at about breast
height. Each night the soil removed from the
'tunnel was thrown into the well, to be removed
next day under pretence of deepening the well.
The prisoners who had projected the well had a
rope, which they loaned us for the purpose of diuw-
ing out soil in a wooden bucket, which was the
product of Jed's ingenuity.
We dug in the tunnel only at night, during which
time the well would be filled with the soil excavated
from our tunnel. Before getting out of the well
each morning, the entrance to the mouth of the
tunnel was concealed.
334 JED'S ADVENTURES.
We gradually added to the number interested in
our project those whom we knew to be trustworthy,
among others the men who owned the rope. There
were only fifteen in the secret, as it was not best to
trust too many with our plans. Each man was
pledged to secrecy. The tunnel was large enough
for a large man to crawl through on his hands and
knees.
After we had been at work a week, Moran meas-
ured our work, and declared that the hole extended
twenty feet beyond the stockade. All that Avas
now needed was to open our tunnel.
About this time we pretended to be hopeless of
ever reaching water, and began to throw the soil
back into the well in pretended disgust. This
answered the double purpose of concealing our
work and of filling up the well, so as to bring the
tunnel to a convenient heiglit for easy access, and
to direct attention from our real design while we
waited for a dark night in which to make our exit.
At last a dark, rainy night came, and we began
opening the tunnel by digging upward into the
outer air at its farthest extremity. The tunnel ran
under the palisade midway between two sentry-
boxes.
Turner, who had charge of the bloodhounds at
Andersonville, was in the habit of making a circuit
around the outside of the stockade every night be-
tween eleven and twelve o'clock, and we waited to
hear the dogs before " opening " our tunnel. W©
TUNNELLING OUT, 335
had been digging for several nights on a gradually
ascending plane, in order to make our exit easier,
and were at this time within about five feet of the
surface at its farther end outside the stockade. At
a little after eleven o'clock the dogs were heard
making their usual ro7-inds.
We began our task, — ranged in the tunnel at
convenient distances, on our hands and knees, — of
passing the excavated soil to one another to be
thi'own into the well.
We worked vigorously and silently. It was
very hot at any time at this work, and through
excitement or some other cause it was at this time
hotter than usual.
I was next to Moran, who was opening the tun-
nel, when I felt a draught of cool air, and saw be-
fore me a strange yellow glimmer of light. The
tunnel had reached the outer air.
Suddenly the work ceased, and Moran came
towards me Avhispering, —
"We are in a scrape. We have opened our
hole just about ten feet beyond an outside picket-
fire."
All went back to the well to consult upon this
unexpected circumstance. Upon our return we
brought back the rope into the tunnel, so that by
each placing a hand upon it they could easily be
signalled.
We also brought with us all our property which
we intended to take. On this occasion I went
336 JED'S ADVENTURES.
first, Jed followed with Grace, Moran and the
others following us.
" New nerves for a new emergency ; mine are
all shaken up to-night, and I am not fit to lead,''
said Moran.
One look, as I stuck my head through the hole,
gave me the situation. By standing up in the
mouth, or opening, of our tunnel, I could easily
step out. Fortunately for us, Moran had made no
noise in making the opening. It seemed almost
impossible to get out without being discovered, yet
every moment was precious, and the hourly cry,
''Twelve o'clock, and all's well," from Post 22
had just been called. In a short time the guard
would be relieved, and the relief might stumble
right into the hole we had just opened.
The guard w^as sitting on a log by his fire with
his back toward us. While we were hesitating, the
question was solved in an unexpected manner. A
man approached the guard and proposed to him to
visit his quarters and get a di'ink of " prime apple
jack." As the guard at first hesitated, his friend
urged, " It won't take more than fifteen minutes,"
and he consented.
He left his haversack and musket at the fu^e,
and came so perilously near our opening that it
seemed that he must stumble upon us.
After this I was in the very act of getting out
of the tunnel when I heard a step, and in a moment
the same guard returned. I saw him pick up his
TUNNELLING OUT. 337
cotton haversack, take from it a pi^^e, and, lighting
it, sit down on the log. But soon, throwing a few .
sticks on his fire, he arose and disappeared in the
darkness. The cold sweat of suspense stood all
over me, and my nerves were in a tremor when I
pulled the rope for the others to advance as I got
out of the tunnel. In a short time we had all crept
on hands and knees into the sheltering woods near
at hand.
Grace had, however, stopped long enough to
possess himself of the musket and haversack
belonging to the guard.
It had previously been arranged that we should
make three parties of five each, and that each party
should pursue its plans of escape independent of
the other.
Our party consisted of Jed, Moran, Grace, Rob-
inson, and myself.
We silently separated from Kentucky and
other comrades, and, facing eastward, began our
journey through the dark woods, in the desperate
effort to reach our lines.
CHAPTER XXIX.
TO THE RIVER.
/^UR plan was to reach the Flint River, which
^-^ flows southward towards the Gulf, ten miles
from Andersonville. There we hoped to find either
a boat or the materials for constructing a raft, and
to elude the dogs by going down the river.
Our party possessed a small pocket compass and
a map of the count}^ with scale of miles, obtained
by tracing from a map owned by a comrade in prison.
We also had tAvo knives similar to those used by
sailors, and then used by our troops as eating-knives.
We had with us the well-rope, besides the rebel
musket and haversack which Grace had taken.
I had serious misgivings about the effects of this
act, but Grace argued that as the guard had lost his
musket by deserting his post, he would be likely to
falsify in a way that would call attention from our
escape, rather than to it. Besides, it was a positive
good to possess these things, while it was impossible
to foresee any evil that might result from their
possession.
A previous experience in attempting to escape
had taught me that when travelling in the woods,
with no paths or points in the landscape for guid-
338
TO THE RIVER. BS9
ance, ong would be more likely to move in a curved
than in a direct line. So our first care, after leav-
ing the prison, was to take a direction east, and
keep it.
As we could not direct our way by means of the
compass because of darkness, we undertook to do
this by getting range from point to point by means
of trees. But even with these precautions we did
not keep our course, and when daylight came we
found ourselves travelling towards the north. We
at once changed our directions to east, and hurried
on towards the river, which we hoped to reach be-
fore the dogs were put on our track.
We passed through several immense cornfields,
where we gathered ears of corn, and no one who
has not had a similar experience of hunger can
imagine how ravenously we ate it, or how refreshed
we were by this food.
At daybreak it stopped raining, and the sun
came up glowing and hot. We had been very
thirsty for some time, and had no other thought,
when we came to a little stream in the woods, than
to satisfy our thirst. It was not until we had drank
that it occurred to us that following the stream
would lead us to the river, and at the same time
throw the dogs off our track, should they follow us.
We got into the stream and walked in Indian
file, with the water up to our knees, and had thus
journeyed for an hour, sometimes miring to our
waists, sometimes encountering interlacing, thorny
340 JED'S ADVENTURES.
vines across the creek, making it almost impassable,
when we came into swampy land. A deep fringe of
underbrush, taller than our heads, on either side,
gave us a refreshing shade.
Our advance was, however, here so difficult that
we debated retracing our steps, when Jed, who was
very quick of hearing, declared that the dogs were
on our track. We listened, and soon heard the
distant yelping of the hounds. They had struck
our track on the road near where we had taken to
the water. We debated the situation in whispers,
knowing they would be likely to follow on the
banks of the stream to regain our track. Tlie re-
sult of the debate was that we resolved to follow
the stream until we were obliged to abandon it.
Upon hearing the dogs, Grace loaded his musket,
saying, " They won't get me without getting some
of this."
The swamp had the advantage to us that it was
impassable to our mounted pursuers, and that they
could not get through its bogs to flank us.
We finally came to firmer ground, — an indica-
tion that we were getting out of the swamp. I
was in favor of going back into the heart of the
swamp again, when to the left of us we heard the
yelping of dogs and the shouts of the men.
"They are trying to frighten us into showing
ourselves, or into making some noise, so as to find
out where we are," said Moran. We were uncer-
tain what course to pursue, but finally, as there was
TO THE RIVER. 841
then no means of their finding our track, we con-
cluded to continue on our course. We had kept
on some fifteen minutes in painful silence, making
as little noise as possible, when right before us we
again heard the dogs and men.
" They have gone around the swamp to see if
they can strike our track from below," said Grace,
" and I think Ave had better stay right where we
are for a while."
There was a big tree just below us in the SAvamp.
I suggested that by means of an overhanging branch
one of us might get into the tree, perhaps see what
was before us, or possibly discover what our pur-
suers were doino-.
Jed mounted on Moran's shoulders, grasped the
tip of the limbs, and soon clambered into the tree.
He reported that the swamp extended apparently a
quarter of a mile ahead of us, and beyond that
there appeared to be cleared land. Our pursuers
were, perhaps, on a road running beyond the swamp.
It was thought best to continue our advance.
This soon became very difficult, as rotten logs,
briers, and a miry bottom impeded our progress at
every step. We clung to the small twigs at the
sides to keep from miring, cutting away the briers
with our knives as we advanced. We soon came
to fu'nier footing, and for half an hour did not hear
a sound from our pursuers.
Still wading in the stream, we found a road with
a low, narrow bridge of logs crossing the stream.
342 JED'S ADVENTURES.
In order to remain concealed, and still keep to
the water, so as to give the bloodhounds no clew,
we were obliged to creep under the bridge on our
hands and knees.
Beyond this there was a continuation of the
swamp for quite a distance, and then, on both sides
of the brook, a large cornfield. We had no sooner
come out to this cornfield than we again heard
the barking of dogs, the blowing of horns, and the
shouting of men.
The creek 'here had a hard, sandy bottom, and
we made good speed until we reached a point
where the stream was broader and was once
more skirted by a tall fringe of undergrowth.
The creek grew broader and deeper until we
could no longer continue our course, except
by keeping to one side of it, where, by the assist-
ance of the underbrush, we could advance quite
rapidly.
All this time we could occasionally hear the
men and dogs. Suddenly Moran stopped, and,
seizing m}^ arm, said, —
" Hush I do you not hear them splashing in the
water ahead of us ? They are following up the
course of this creek."
We were for an instant pretty badly frightened.
Grace, who had been examining the priming of
his musket, here coolly said, —
" There's a swampy place back of us, where they
can't get in with their mules or horses ; let us go
TO THE RIVER, S43
back and stay there, and fight them if they try to
capture us."
This seemed so good apian that we immediately
adopted it. Here there was a heavy growth of
brush and vines to shield us from sig^ht. We care-
fully cut away with our knives the brush on one side,
and sat down in the nook thus made, so that any
one in the stream below could not see us. Here
we waited in great suspense hearing the men and
dogs at times splashing in the water.
At another time we plainly heard the tramp of
their mules or horses, as they passed around the
swampy place where we were concealed. Finally
we heard one of them say, —
" They've got beyond this place, you can see that
by the broken twigs."
Here we remained, however, some two hours
without hearing any further sounds to indicate the
presence of men and dogs. We had apparently
outwitted and baffled them.
I had almost fallen asleep when I was aroused by
Moran, who said, referring to the hunters, —
" I guess they have given up trying to find us
by this time, and we must reach the river as soon
as we can."
Once more we began our journey through the
little stream, and soon came out upon cleared land
where there was no fringe of small trees to shelter
us from sight.
The creek continually broadened, and soon began
344 JED'S ADVENTURES.
to run almost due south, while its banks rose to
the height of our heads. For some distance we
walked on its banks until we came to a field of either
sorghum or sugar-cane. As we passed through it
we heard the voices of a party of negro laborers
only a short distance from us.
We overheard one of them saying, " Dey's all up
to massa's, di^inking whiskey, andmakin' a powerful
talk 'case dey carnt find dem Yankees."
AVe had little doubt but that " dem Yankees "
referred to us.
Reaching wooded portions of the country, after
two or three miles of travel, we were gladdened by
the sight of the Flint River. We agreed that if
we were pursued to this point, we would take to
the river, even if we had to swim.
Our fii-st care was to search for a boat, or for
some means of constructing a raft. This search
was for some time fruitless, but at last Jed found
a log and two or three slabs.
It was too late to construct a raft before night ;
and fearful lest the dogs might yet come on our
track, we waded up to our waists along the edge
of the river, towing the logs and slabs with us up
stream, for we believed that any one pui^uing us
would naturally follow the river banks down rather
than up the stream.
We must have walked a mile in tliis manner
when we came to a pine-wood, where we camped
during the night, one of us keeping watch while
TO THE RIVER. 345
the rest slept. During the night no sound but the
murmur of the river or the shrill piping of crickets
could be heard.
Upon awaking we made a meal of green corn,
with a little bacon and corn cake which we found
in the rebel's haversack.
In the confiscated bag there were also a horn of
poAvder, some bullets and percussion caps, and a
flint and steel for kindling fires.
We now started out to find more material for
our raft. Moran discovered several men crossing
the river in a boat, and although he could plainly
hear their voices could not distinguish what
they were saying, or determine whether they
were in pursuit of us. He proposed, after the
party had landed, to swim across the river and
bring back the boat, thus gaining both the means
of going down the river and of preventing pur-
suit. The rest of us thought it doubtful if these
were the Anders on ville hunters ; and if they were
not, the stealing of their boat would give them a
strong motive to pursue us. Moran was, however,
so determined that we finally consented to his
plan. After swimming the river he could not find
the boat, which had been concealed, but he declared
that he had seen an alligator big enough to swallow
liim.
Grace poked fun at him, by suggesting that
possibly the alligator had swallowed the boat.
Grace and Jed w^re more successful in their search,
346 JEL'S ADVENTURES.
and had found three large pine logs lodged with
other di^if twood in a bend of the river, — probably
brought to this point by the spring freshets from
some saw-mill up the stream.
With the aid of our rope we towed the logs to a
convenient point, and bringing up the otlier log
lashed them together, fastening them to the slabs
by means of withes, in such a manner as to make a
raft about eight feet wide. Moran whittled one of
the smaller slabs into a rude paddle to steer with.
We were very much relieved when at last the
raft was finished, and covered with limbs of pine-
trees securely lashed, and the whole strewn with a
layer of pine needles to make it dry and comfort-
able. It was late in the afternoon when we pushed
out into the stream and began a voyage the end of
which we hoped might bring us once more under
the old flag.
CHAPTER XXX.
DOWN THE RIVER.
WE floated down the river all night. Moran
would not intrust the steering of our raft
to any one but liimself, and, grim and watchful, he
sat silently at the helm.
Our situation was so novel, and our relief and
joy so great, now that we were beyond pursuit of
the Andersonville dogs, that we slept but little that
night.
The next morning it began raining, so we drew
our raft into a little creek, well sheltered from ob-
servation, on the east side of the river.
We made a meagre breakfast from the food still
remaining in our haversack, and then, leaving Rob-
inson and Moran to guard the raft, the rest of us
started out to obtain, if possible, some food. We
carried the compass with us, as without it there was
danger of our being unable to find the raft again.
" If we could only strike a smoke-house, and get
some ham or bacon ! " drawled Grace.
" Yes," said Jed, " but we should probably ' strike '
some dogs and men at the same time, and that
might not be so pleasant."
We made our way through the pine woods for
347
348 JED'S ADVENTURES.
some distance, when we encountered a swamp of
tall reeds, among which briers were so completely
interwoven as to prevent our further advance. We
were compelled to go around it, and soon came out
into cultivated land, where there was an immense
cornfield, in every alternate row of which were
planted pease, which grew luxuriantly.
Here we gathered all the corn we could conven-
iently carry, and on our return each cut an arm-
ful of the tall reeds, thinking that when dried they
might be useful to spread on our raft. On reach-
ing the raft, as there did not appear to be much dan-
ger of our being discovered, we pushed once more
into the stream, and floated with the current.
Night came once more, and, though wet and
chilled, we continued our voyage. The dark for-
ests and bluffs on either side the river shut us in
like a wall, tlirough which the river made its way,
reflecting the sky above like a path of light. The
silence was meanwhile unbroken, except by the
rippling of the water, the monotonous piping of the
crickets, or the occasional liooting of an owl.
We were exultant at the thought that we had
left the dreadful prison far behind, and were on our
way to freedom. No incident of importance hap-
pened during the night, and as the light of a pleas-
ant morning came we drew our raft into a place
where it Avas well concealed, and, having appointed
Jed to watch, we laid ourselves down to sleep.
Jed, however, soon awakened us, making at the
DOWN 7 HE RIVER. 349
same time a signal for silence. He had heard
voices and the yelping of a dog, and, creeping to
the top of the river bank, had seen a party of men
and boys passing near us along a cart road. It was
apparently a hunting party, but as they were not
mounted they evidently were not searching for us.
Fearing, however, that if this party were to re-
turn, some accident might lead to our discovery, we
moved our raft to the edge of a swamp which bor-
dered the stream, about half a mile below the bluff-
land, where we had halted. The sun was very hot,
and this compelled us to drop down stream once
more, that we might be protected by the shade of
trees.
Thus we floated by night, and foraged and slept
during the day.
It was about a week after this that we had tied
our raft to a tree in a sheltered bend of the river,
near where a large quantity of driftwood had lodged.
Two of our party had gone in search of food,
while Jed, Robinson, and myself had remained to
strengthen the raft, which each day needed some
repairs.
Jed, who had gone out to cut withes for this pur-
pose, returned in a short time, exclaiming, " I've
found a boat ! "
" Where ? " we asked in chorus.
" Bottom side up, among the jam of driftwood at
the bend of the river below us."
We were a little incredulous at first, thinking
350 JED'S ADVENTURES.
he had been deceived, but, accompanying him,
found a light, flat-bottomed scow boat, as he had
described. We removed our clothing, and, wading
into the water, succeeded after much labor in dis-
lodging it from the debris of logs and limbs. It
proved to be about twelve or thirteen feet long,
square at both ends, but rounded up from the bot-
tom fore and aft. Its sides were made of single
boards, with deck boards covering the stern and
bows.
To say that we were much elated would but
feebly describe our excitement ; for, though we had
seen boats on our route, we had been kept from
taking them by the fear of leaving traces of our
presence on the river. In one instance only had
we meddled with them, and that when Moran had
taken an extra paddle from one.
Upon the return of Grace and Moran we pulled
the boat up, and got the water out of her. She was
built of cypress boards about half an inch in thick-
ness, strengthened by knees of cypress inside. She
was unpainted, but her seams had originally been
calked, and covered with pitch.
We launched her into the water to test her carry-
ing powers, and were much chagrined to find that she
leaked so badly that we should be compelled either
to abandon her, or to spend much time in making
repairs. It was quickly decided to do the latter.
Moran and Grace, who had thoroughly scoured the
country for miles around us, declared tha,t we were
,iiiL..;,.t ,t ..iiiii iiiiillil
DOWN THE RIVER. 351
at least three miles from either habitations or roads ;
and, as there was a cypress swamp on the other side
of the river opposite our landing-place, it was pro-
nounced an unusually safe place in which to linger.
It was therefore arranged that Jed and Grace
should act as scouts and foragers, while Moran,
Robinson, and myself mended the boat.
The next morning we began the work. Our
first procedure was to wash the boat thoroughly,
inside and out, and to remove the old pitch and
cotton still adhering to its seams. We cut off a
piece of our precious rope and picked it into fine
pieces for the purpose of calking.
The next day we allowed our craft to dry in the
sun, while we gathered a large quantity of pitch
from the surrounding pine-trees.
Up to this time since we had left the prison, we
had neither built a fire nor discharged a gun. It
now became necessary for us to do both, as through
want of skill or knowledge Ave had been unable to
get a fire by means of flint and steel.
To do this we first removed the charge from our
musket, and replaced it with a charge of powder,
with some of the dry oakum or rope for wadding ;
then, sprinkling still more of it with powder, we
discharged the gun with its muzzle near this prep-
aration, and soon had the first fire that we had
seen since leaving the prison.
The little cove where we had pulled up our
boat was admirably adapted both for concealment
352 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and for work. Tliere was a little grassy spot a
dozen rods square in front of it, well shaded by tlie
arching limbs of trees, and gradually sloping to the
river. Jed and Grace had meanwhile seen neither
plantation, houses, nor people, in a scout of five
miles around us, though they had seen pigs run-
ning wild in the woods. It was agreed that they
should risk the effect of foing the musket in order
to kill one of these pigs for food.
Robinson, who proved very ingenious, had
whittled a piece of hard wood into a wedge to be
used for driving the oakum into the seams of the
boat. I melted the pitch in a half-canteen which
had been used by us for cooking in prison. I first,
however, fastened a split stick to the canteen for a
handle, and pinched one part of the edge so as to
form a nozzle or spout, for pouring the pitch more
directly into the seams. Our work progressed
slowly, and after working an entire day at calk-
ing and pitcliing we had not half finished the
work.
Our foragers came in that afternoon with a large
supply of turpentine for the boat, but without pro-
visions. They had seen but one pig, which, in
their attempt to capture without shooting, had
escaped them. They had, moreover, seen no signs
of houses or cultivated fields, and were, like our-
selves, tired and hungry.
We had now cooked all of our green corn, and
nearly all of our sweet potatoes. Early the next
DOWN THE RIVER. SS3
morning we vigorously resumed our work, which
we nearly finished that day.
It was late in the afternoon when our scouts
came in, bringing a young pig which they had
killed and dressed ready to cut up. We had
tliat night, it is needless to say, a hearty meal of
the first animal food we had tasted for months.
The next day we all went to work on the boat,
and before noon had finished our task, and upon
launching it were delighted to find that it did
not leak.
We now had a very good outfit for our voyage.
There were two paddles, two strong poles (to one
of ^^'hich Moran proposed to fit our blanket for a
sail), and the articles hitherto mentioned.
We cooked pork enough to last us several days,
thinking it would keep better in that way. We
had tried to cure some of it by smoking, but
though we made a great smoke we did not succeed
in curing anything but ourselves, of a desire for
further experiment.
Once more we began our voyage, and floated all
night with the stream, which we trusted might
prove our highway to freedom. Moran estimated
that we had come sixty or a hundred miles since
we first started down the river. In less than a
week, therefore, we expected to arrive at the point
where the river unites with the Chattahoochee and
forms the Appalachicola.
The next morning we landed, and our whole
S54 jED-s AbVENfunns.
party, with the exception of Moran (whom we left
in charge of the boat), started out to procure more
food. We got nearly a mile away from our land-
ing, before we discovered that we had left our
compass behind us. The night previous Moran
had used it, and we had forgotten to bring it.
Experience had taught us how easy it was to get
lost, and so we started back for the compass. We
travelled for upwards of an hour, when we found
that we had lost our way in the pine woods. We
finally came out near a large house, with its negro
quarters. If we had lost our way, we had at least
found a plantation.
Fearing to be discovered by its people we went
back to a piece of timber on some elevated land,
where Jed, being the keenest of sight, climbed a
tree to discover the direction of the river.
Although he could not see the river, yet he be-
lieved by certain indications that he had discov-
ered the direction in which it lay. We concluded
to fill our haversacks with green corn, a field of
which was near at hand, and to hurry back to
our landing-place. While thus engaged we heard
voices, and before we had time for concealing our-
selves, encountered a party of black laborers going
to their work. Making a virtue of the encounter,
I asked them to give us something to eat. They
gave us a few Indian cakes Avhich they called
" pones," in return for which Grace offered them
his knife, but it was refused.
DOW^r THE UTVER. 355
" No," said an old negro, " God bless yer, massa!
We knows ye are Yanks by yer does. We was up
at Anderson working on the stockade, and see some
of you'ns there. I knows the Yanks, I does."
*' You must not let any one know you have seen
us," said I, "as we are escaping from prison."
'' If you will go up into them woods we'll bring
you some sweet potatoes and hoe-cake," said the
black man.
This we agreed to, but we kept a good lookout
to see that they did not betray us, for hard treat-
ment at Andersonville had taught us to distrust
every one. In a few minutes they came back,
bringing half a smoked ham, some Indian cakes,
and nearly half a bushel of potatoes.
They informed us that the only white people on
the plantation were women, and one old man. They
were very anxious to know our opinion of how the
war was going to end, and if the Yankees conquered
the rebels what they would do with the colored
people.
I explained the emancipation proclamation to
them, and told them that our government had
pledged itself to give all the slaves their freedom.
That this was not entirely new to them was evi-
dent, for the old negro uncovered his head, and,
reverently lifting his eyes to heaven, said, " I'se be-
lieve de Lord will lead our peo^^le out 'er bondage
to de promised land."
He told us we were in Decatur County, about
S56 JED'S ADVENTURES.
twenty miles from Bainbridge, which was " a right
smart town, on a bluff at the east side of the river."
He pointed out our way to the river, which we soon
reached, but had so much difficulty in finding the
boat that we resolved not to leave it again, for any
but short distances, without our compass.
At early twilight we resumed our voyage, and
by aid of the sail and a fair wind passed through
the bluff-land, around Bainbridge, before daylight
the next morning. Two days after, without acci-
dent, we reached the Appalachicola River.
The Chattahoochee, uniting with the Flint River,
here forms the Appalachicola, which is swift and
broad.
It was now about the 1st of September. The
health of the party was very good, and we borrowed
no trouble for the future, for, as Grace philosophi-
cally remarked, we were likely to have an ample
supply without borrowing before we reached our
lines, — a prophecy w^hich was fulfilled soonor than
we anticipated.
That morning we had brought our little craft into
a bend of the river where we were but partially
sheltered from sight ; and in addition to this we
soon found we were at a sort of ferry, where peojDle
were constantly passing from shore to shore in boats.
It therefore seemed equally dangerous for us to
remain where we were, or to change our position
until night.
Early in the morning a jDarty of men and boys
DOWN THE RIVER. S57
had crossed to the opposite shore from a point near
our landing ; and another party, consisting of two
men and three women, landed within fifty feet of
us.
" It won't do to stay here," said Moran decidedly,
while his square jaw w^orked in suppressed excite-
ment. " I saw one of the men look in this direc-
tion, and ten chances to one he saw us." But
while this was likely, it did not appear equally evi-
dent that he had recognized us as escaped Yankee
prisoners.
After a moment's reflection, Moran started to-
wards the strange boat, saying, "I am going to
take the oars from their boat, so when they return
they can't follow us." While Jed expressed his
opinion that this w^as bad policy, the other members
of our party, except Robinson, sided wdth i\Ioran.
In addition to the oars he found two fishing-lines,
with hooks and sinkers. I agreed with Moran that
if the oars were taken, it was just as well to also
take these fish-lines, as they might prove of great
value to us ; but Jed did not believe it right or poli-
tic to provoke antagonism by an unprovoked, if not
a dishonest, act.
We had taken the things from the strange boat,
and were all ready to embark on our own, when
some one sharply said, " Whar ar yer going, stranger,
with my fixin's ? "
We turned, and on the bank above us stood a
man dressed in a well-worn butternut suit, coolly
S6^ JED'S ADVENTURES.
sighting along the barrel of a rifle, which was aimed
at us.
Moran, with more presence of mincl than some
of us, replied, " We are going to visit some friends
up the river a ways, and have borrowed your
paddles. We will bring 'em back all right
soon."
• " Take them fixin's back to my boat, stranger,"
said the butternut contestant, with an ominous and
rising inflection of voice.
His tones and manner were more emphatic of
anger and determination than his words, and we
were about to obey him when the crack of a rifle
from my rear rang out, wliile our enemy gave a yell
of pain, dropped his musket, and rushed into the
woods. Grace, who was the only one in the boat
at the time we were challenged, seeing that a crisis
in oui- affairs had arrived, with inconceivable quick-
ness had seized and fired the musket. Moran mean-
while rushed after the retreating rebel, crying,
" Stop him ! He'll raise the country if w^e don't."
The rest of us, who had been dazed by this inci-
dent, quickly followed him ; but Grace, being very
swift of foot, soon caught up with the citizen,
whereupon the latter, finding it impossible to out-
run him, clutched with Grace, and a hand-to-hand
struggle took place. Grace had liis antagonist on
the under side when we came up.
" We don't want to hurt you," said Moran.
" Look a yer," said the stranger, holding up a
DOWN TtiE RIVER. S5S
bleeding hand and arm, as if that was a sufficient
contradiction of Moran's pacific statement.
Upon examination, after he had yielded himself
a prisoner, we found that Grace's bullet had pene-
trated his right hand, passed out and shattered the
arm near the elbow, and it Avas this wound which
had caused him to drop his musket so suddenly.
We were in great perplexity to determine what
to do with our captive, and could spare but little
time to debate the question, as his companions
were liable to return at any moment.
"The best Avay would be to kill him," said
Moran, chewing at his quid of tobacco grimly.
If there is anything which will dissipate anger
or evil intent against an enemy, it is to see him
wounded and helpless in your hands. We could
not injure this disarmed man who had so lately
been threatening us, and on whose disposal per-
haps even now our safety, if not our lives, de-
pended. Grace proposed to take him into the
boat with us and set him ashore at some point
below, where it would be safe to let him loose.
Jed, who had had some experience in dressing
wounds, had already begun to cut away his sleeve
and to dress the wound, which was bleeding pro-
fusely. We finally tied his legs together, and
the uninjured arm to his side, and left him in
the path to the river, near his boat. We then
took his ammunition and rifle, and, pushing his
boat adi'ift in the stream, embarked in our own
§60 JED'S ADVElNfUMS.
boat, and paddled rapidly to the opposite side of
the river.
I had forgotten to say that the wounded man
had promised us that if we would not put a gag
in his mouth he would not call out; but we
had scarcely reached the opposite shore when he
began to yell at the top of his voice.
A moment later we heard a commotion on the
shore we had left, and saw two men running along
the bank, and in a short time a boat put out from
the shore, paddled apparently by the same two men.
We worked with all our might to keep out of gun-
shot range of them. P'or some reason, notwith-
standing they had but two men against our four
at the paddles, they began to gain on us in the
chase.
Moran, however, observing that a good breeze
had sprung up in the direction we were going, set
our sail and steered ; while Robinson and I worked
at the paddles, Jed and Grace loaded the muskets
for a possible fight.
Moran and Grace were for stopping to fight our
pursuers, but more temperate counsel prevailed.
In a short time our boat began gaining on our pur-
suers, who, seeing this, put back to the shore,
while we continued our voyage. We had misgiv-
ings that the country around us might be aroused,
for it was broad daylight, and we were likely to
have other encounters on the river. We had no
choice, however, except to make all speed possible,
DOWN THE RIVER. 361
as the iDeople on the river below were liable to be
aroused to hunt and capture us.
We were so fortunate as not to be molested dur-
ing the day, though we passed near a small sailing
craft in the afternoon. We sailed and paddled all
the following night, but did not cover as long a dis-
tance as we ordinarily had done, as we had now
reached the tide waters of the Appalachicola, which
set against us part of the time. We estimated the
distance made when morning dawned, as thirty
miles.
As daylight came on we brought our boat into a
heavily wooded portion of the shore, where we
determined to wait and rest during the day.
On nearing the river coast we found ourselves
on the borders of a dense cypress swamp which
apparently extended for miles below and a long
distance above us.
CHAPTER XXXI.
A NEST IN THE CYPRESS.
E slowly paddled along the borders of the
swamp, looking for a firm landing-place, but
w
for a time the ground was too boggy and uncertain
to make this practicable. As it became lighter,
however, we made our way into a sort of bayou
which cleft the swamp, and seemingly ran almost
parallel with the river, which, by following a short
distance, brought us finally to a good landing.
This landing proved to be a large hummock
forming a small island in the swamp, from which
grew several trees of the oak species. From this
island or hummock, an^ also from the smaller
hassocks of the swamp, on its sides, there clam-
bered a wilderness of luxuriant vines into the
interlinked and spreading cypress limbs above.
These trees, for even fifteen or twenty feet from
the ground upward, were bare of limbs, and then
spread out in a dense mass, through which the vines
were interwoven.
After exploring among the cypress-trees, which
were surrounded with water to the depth of several
feet, we landed on the island. Here we ate a hearty
breakfast from our almost exhausted stock of pro-
362
A NEST IN THE CY'PRESS. 363
visions, and, having pulled up our boat, lay down
to sleep, for we were very tired.
It was nearly noon when I was awakened by a
horrified cry from one of our party, which brought
us to our feet. The cause of the alarm proved
to be the approach of several alligators, now
clumsily making their way back into the current of
the bayou, leaving behind them an unpleasant odor
not unlike musk. Though we had seen a number
of these repulsive reptiles since we had begun our
voyage, we had not before met them as neighbors.
This incident led us to explore still farther the
interior of the swamp, in our boat, in l^pes to find
a retreat more secure against these intruders, and
safer from any search which might possibly be made
for us. We paddled our way among the cypress-
trees whose branches overspread our heads, and
whose massive trunks formed, as it were, pillars
to the interwoven canoi:)y of branches and vines
above us.
We had advanced several hundred feet, when
our boat could go no farther on account of huge
cypress knees and roots ; while just beyond large
vines grew f^m the hassocks, of still greater size
and profusion, so as completely to shut out the sight
of the sky. Moran, with a sailor's instinct, climbed
up one of the smaller of the straight cypress-trees
to obtain an outlook. To do this he was obliged
to use his knife to cut aAvay the vines wlien he
reached the cypress limbs, sq as to admit his body.
364 JED'S ADVENTURES.
An exclamation of wonder escaped him when he
had reached the top. He explained to us below
that the vines and limbs together had formed a
thick, level mass, and from his outlook he could
see what appeared to be cultivated lands. This
excited our curiosity so much that all of us but
Robinson climbed to the tops of the trees to take
a look for ourselves.
We found, as Moran had said, a wonderful mass
of vines interwoven with the branches in such a
manner that they supported the weight of our
bodies, and enabled us with little difficulty to pass
from the top of one tree to that of another by
their aid.
As we were about to descend to the ground, Jed,
who had been climbing from tree to tree, called out
to us that he had found a place so densely plaited
that he believed we could live on the tops of the
trees. When we came to the spot we found it
indeed a wonderful plateau of branches and vines,
so level and compact that we could almost walk on
it. Moran looked the place over critically, and
said, —
" We are in search of a hiding-place, and we
have found it. Let us make this place still more
level and strong, and sleep and hide here until
the chance of our being waylaid on the river is
over."
We all agreed to this proposition, and began at
once the task. We interwoye still more closely
A NEST IN THE CYPRESS. 365
the vines with the limbs of the cypress, cut them
away in places, and laid others from the crotch of
the cypress-trees in such a way as to make it quite
safe. The next day we resumed our work, and
continued it from day to day, until we had about
ten feet square very strong and level. This we
enclosed with a rude but strong railing of vines
and cypress limbs, and also covered the plateau
with a thick bed of Spanish moss gathered from
the trees, where it hung in heavy festoons. On
one side of this plateau, where a few limbs of a
tall cypress projected above the surrounding level,
we built a shelter from the sun with vines, covered
it with moss, using the branches of the trees for
framework.
We had now a secure retreat, where we could
sleep, and where it would be difficult for an enemy
to come at us, even had they known of our pres-
ence there. We then fastened our rope to the top
of the plateau, and Avith some of the longest vines
made a ladder for easy ascent, and v/hich might
also be di^awn up after us when we had reached
the top.
We now needed only some sure means of subsist-
ence to make this a safe dwelling-place as long as
we chose to remain. To make access to our habi-
tation more complete, we built a platform around
the roots of a huge cypress near this as a landing-
place for our boat. This was easy of construction,
as the cypress mounds and roots gave a foundation
JED'S ADVENTURES.
on which to lash limbs. These we fastened with
small vines made pliable by beating, until they
were an excellent substitute for ropes. From this
wharf we constructed a passage-way for about
twenty feet over the slippery cypress knees and
roots to our ladder. This work was done from
time to time, and occupied several days.
With the exception of about two pounds of ham,
mostly fat, and a few potatoes, our provisions Avere
now exhausted, and hunger demanded a speedy
supply.
Early next morning we Avent up stream with
our boat, to forage for food. We did not find a
plantation, as we had been led to think we should
by seeing, from our nest, indications of cleared land
near at hand. Baffled in this, we returned and
paddled up the main stream, but finding nothing
but swamps for nearly two miles, came back, much
discouraged and very hungry, to the oak hummock
or island, where we had made our first landing,
and where we intended to do our cooking. On
returning we had at first missed the bayou, and this
delaj^ed us till nearly noon. Jed began to dig on the
hassock for worms, and finally succeeded in finding
some for bait, though not the kind we call angle-
worms. We tried fishing in the bayou, but did not
catch anything ; and finally cast our lines in the
river near the mouth of the bayou. Here we
caught a fish about fifteen inches in length, with
white belly, steel gray back, and lines of rosy
A NEST IN THE CYPRESS. 367
brown on the sides, which Moran said was a
mullet ; also several smaller ones like perch. We
now returned to the island to cook our fish. We
kindled a blaze by firing our gun into some dry
leaves and oakum sprinkled with powder, and soon
had a good fire ; we then fried our fish in our half-
canteen. Hunger is the best of sauces, and the fish
seemed the most delicious of anything we ever ate.
Replenishing the fire with boughs, to prevent its
going out, we returned to the nest.
On ascending to our retreat in the cypress,
Moran ascertained by aid of our pocket compass
that the bayou, instead of running nearly parallel
with the river, as we had supposed, enclosed a tri-
angular-shaped peninsula, on the opposite side of
which were the cultivated fields to be seen from
our nest, and which we had tried to reach. These
fields were apparently surrounded with swamps,
and were not, as far as we could discern, approach-
able from the river.
The next day, Jed and Grace, after landing us
on a hummock on the river, went in search of food
with the boat. It was late when they returned
with the haversack and the lining of Jed's
jacket filled with sweet potatoes and a few ears of
hard and rather poor corn. They had obtained
this supply at a plantation on the opposite side of
the river two miles above us, but were of the opin-
ion that it would not be safe to return there, as
they had been seen by the negroes, and after reach-
368 JED'S ADVENTURES,
ing the boat, had heard hounds yelping as if in
pursuit. That night we cooked an appetizing
meal, on the hummock, which we used as a kitchen,
and were well pleased, as a whole, with our day's
adventures.
A few days after this, while Grace was explor-
ing among the vine-matted cypress limbs, he dis-
covered beneath him a ridge of hassock land
running towards the clearing which we had
believed to be a plantation. He thought we might
be able, as he said, to "open up communication
with its sweet potatoes," and thus obtain a sure
supply of food.
Armed with our tAVO muskets, which we kept
with our blankets at our nest, we advanced some
hundreds of yards on the vine-covered plateau,
until below us was the line of hassocks or oak
hummocks which Jed had described.
The hassocks were mostly firm and dry. The
briers and vines were the worst impediment to our
advance, as they were so thick and tangled that we
were obliged to cut our way through them with
our knives.
A few hundred yards advance, with only occa-
sional swampy bottom, brought us out of the
swamp to fii'mer ground, whence we easily reached
the cleared land. At one point we had found
it convenient to turn over from our path, by
a device of Moran's, a tangled mass of vines, which
could be dropped into place again, if desirable, and
A NEST IN THE CYPRESS, 369
thus shut off the patli. We found corn, though it
was not very good for roasting, and -plenty of
sweet potatoes. This was, fortunately, at a part
of the plantation remote from its buildings, and
where we were in no great danger of being discov-
ered. We were careful not to disturb the vines
when digging the potatoes, and broke down but
a few roasting ears in any one place. In returning
we had replaced the barricade of tangled vines in
its place in our path, and on ascending to the pla-
teau on the tree tops, pulled up the vines by which
we had ascended, having first cut them from the
roots. We also took the precaution of cutting
away all similar vines, so that, if we were ever
pursued, there would be no means of following us,
or clew to our escape, after we had reached the
plateau. We now viewed our position with much
satisfaction. If we liad had wings we could not
have more effectually shut off all means of pur-
suit.
During all this time we usually kept our boat at
the little platform at the foot of the cypress, and
in it went back and forth to cook our food, and eat
it on the island, where, since we first kindled our
fire, we had not allowed it to go out.
We passed our time in perfecting our nest in
the cypress ; also in fishing, and exploring the
swamp for wild limes and oranges. The alligators
which were seen in the bayous were, unless stirred
up too familiarly, more repulsive than dangerous,
370 - jnD'S ADVtlNTURES.
and we became accustomed to their occasional
presence. We soon had a good stock of food,
consisting of 3'ams, potatoes, and fish, and a few
wild limes and sour oranges, which were sometimes
found on the hummocks.
For three weeks we passed our time in happy
content. Robinson, who seldom went on excursions
with us, thatched the roof, made for shade, so that
it became a protection against rain ; made a com-
fortable bed of moss, also seats and a rude table of
woven vines, where we often ate our food.
We should have been contented to remain
here for months had not an event occurred which
disturbed our tranquillity and safety. While Jed
and Grace were prospecting on the plantation,
armed with the guns, they fired at a pig which had
w^andered into the cypress swamp. The pig was
wounded, and ran squealing, with our boys in close
pursuit, in the direction of the plantation. They
were so eager in the chase that, as Grace tersely
said, they did not notice that they had gone too far
from their base before they ran into a white man,
who, while seemingly friendly, had followed and
questioned them as to where they belonged.
Grace, according to Jed's account, had put a stop
to his interrogation by a significant motion wdth
his musket, and by saying in his drawling tones, —
"I sa}^, old man, if jom don't go home right off,
yer folks'll get lonesome."
Upon hearing this mcident w^e all agreed that it
A NEST 7iV THE CYPRESS. 371
would thereafter be uncomfortable if not danger-
ous to draw furtlier rations from the potato ridges
and cornfields of that plantation.
" They can't find us here, nor get at us if they
do," said IVIoran, ^' but they will make us uncom-
fortable."
It was not two hours after, that we heard the
baying of the bloodhounds outside the swamp.
They even came into the swamp for a considerable
distance with the dogs, and then turned back, appar-
ently baffled.
"We had no fears that they could reach us, but,
as our days of peace and contentment were at an
end here, we agreed that it was time to resume our
voyage down the river. We were, however, deter-
mined not to be hurried or driven. Moran sug-
gested that we return in a body to the plantation
once more to obtain potatoes and corn, in order to
be well provisioned for tlie journey. The plan
was opposed by Robinson, but was nevertheless
adopted. They had apparently abandoned the
search and pursuit for the day, and were possibly
rallying their neighbors to hunt us on the morrow.
We therefore concluded to make a strategic move-
ment on their potato patch that afternoon. Armed
with our muskets we boldly returned, gathered
corn and dug potatoes, and were on our way home.
Jed was carrpng the haversack full of potatoes,
while ]Moran and myself had a miscellaneous assort-
ment of potatoes, corn, beans, and other vegetables
872 JED'S ADVENTURES.
tied in a blanket, which we were carrying together.
Suddenly I heard a sound which made my heart
jump.
It Avas the deep bay of a bloodhound. On we
dashed towards the swamp, while Jed and Grace
with the muskets covered our retreat. We ran
towards a triangle formed by a fence, which was
one of our landmarks, but before scaling it we
looked back ; Jed and Grace were not in sight, and
the sound of dogs meanwhile came nearer and
nearer. Grasping once more our blanket of pota-
toes, we ran on, the dogs still following us.
A pack of dogs is usually made up of two or
three formidable savage dogs, while the others are
often fox dogs or any other keen-scented canines.
Any dog will follow a man if trained to it. What
were we to do?
" ril fight, but I won't run an}- farther," said
Moran, while his square, determined jaw came
together almost with a snap, and he dropped his
end of the blanket. The dogs were now close
upon us, and two mounted men were at the fence
following. They stopped to take it down. Just
then the dogs broke upon us in full cry, and lead-
ing them was the largest Cuban bloodhound I ever
saw. I turned to run.
" Stop ! " said Moran, and, catching hold of the
blanket of potatoes as the foremost dog came at
him, hurled it at him with prodigous force. It
struck the brute squarely, and turned him end over
A NEST IN THE CYPRESS. 37B
end. The whole pack of clogs now slunk back.
Once more we turned to run, but not without our
potatoes. The mounted men catching sight of us
at this instant, rode up yelling furiously.
We had now reached the edge of the swamp ;
meanwhile, the dogs and the mounted men were in
such close pursuit that escape seemed impossible.
Just at this instant a musket shot was heard from
the swamp, and down went a rider and horse.
The dogs were, however, upon us again. I grasped
my hat from my head, and, muffling my hand,
thrust it out for a dog to snap at. He jumped
for my hand, when I struck full at his throat
with my knife, and the blood spurted out in my
face.
" Good I " said Moran, excitedly adopting the
same tactics, but the dogs had now cowardly slunk
away from further encounter.
A few steps more and we came to the barrier of
briers, where we found the other membei's of our
party. This barrier was passed and thrown back
into the path, and we were soon secure in the
cypress-trees ^vith all our plunder. We heard our
pursuers when they reached the barrier of briers
and vines, and heard theii' dogs beyond it in the
swamp, but we knew we were secure at least for a
season.
That afternoon, after cooking a large quantity of
food, Ave sorrowfully bade good-by to our nest in
the cypress, and with everything belonging to our
B74 JET)'S ADVENTURES.
party securely packed in our boat, resumed our
voyage down the river.
Our boat was now well stocked with provisions ;
we had a large number of baked potatoes and about
a bushel of raw ones, over thirty ears of corn, as
well as a full half-bushel of peanuts, gathered that
day.
A voyage of two nights brought us to what
proved to be an island at the mouth of the river.
During the trip we had not been able to make a
landing, as cypress swamps extended on both sides
of us. Here, however, we landed, as the island was
high and sandy, and covered Avith pine woods, and
seemingly uninhabited. During the two days and
nights preceding, we had experienced some dis-
comfort for want of Avater, but here found a good
supply.
With the exception of Robinson, we were now
all in vigorous health. The vegetable diet and
wild limes and oranges had cured us of the scurvy,
which afflicted us while prisoners, and we now felt
strong in the resolution to bring our voyage to a
successful teiTuination.
A life of peril makes men brave, quick-witted,
and inclined to make the best of adverse fortune.
Discontent and worry, I have often thought since,
come only to those who move in the calm of life,
rather than in its troubled places. We borrowed
no trouble, but were content with what trouble we
had.
A NEST m THE CYPRESS. 875
We remained here during the day, and then, de-
siring to come to the farther end of the island in
order to get a better outlook for any of our block-
ading squadron, which jNIoran thought might be
cruising in the bay, we resumed our voyage. Our
map showed us that the west fork of the river
would carry us perilously near the town of Appa-
lachicola. We did not think it prudent to seek the
acquaintance of its people, and therefore determined
to go down the east fork of the river.
CHAPTER XXXII.
ON THE APPALACHICOLA BAY.
IT was a moonlight night when, with a favoring
breeze and an outgoing tide, we steered our
craft down the east fork of the AppaLachicola River.
We were borne so rapidly towards the southern
limit of the island that we had not prepared for
landing before we were swept away by the tide and
current, which here ran like a mill-race. Though
we worked hard at the paddles, we could not resist
the force that swept us on. Even Moran, accus-
tomed to boats, exclaimed in dismay, ''We are be-
ing carried out to sea I " So, breathless with hard
work and excitement, one by one we dropped our
paddles, and despondently watched the receding
shore. " If we had a good supply of water it would
not be so bad," said Moran.
This was a new cause for alarm, which the in-
creasing roughness of the sea did not diminish.
Jed, who had remained silent and thoughtful
during this time, here said, "We are in God's
hands, who has delivered us out of many perils. It
seems to me there is no cause for alarm. The map
shows there are islands off the mouth of this river,
376
ON THE APPALACHICOLA BAY. 377
which in any case we shall have to reach, in order
to be near incoming vessels, and it is as good a time
for us to get there now as any."
'' I didn't think of that," said Moran.
It was astonishing what a revulsion of feeling
came with the uttering of these sensible words,
and it illustrates how the faith and hopeful courage
of one man will sometimes inspire his comrades in
trials. The sail was soon set, the points of the
compass ascertained, and the paddles resumed.
The height of the waves had at first alarmed us ;
but as Moran declared there was no danger, and
that the boat was of a build not easily upset or
swamped, we soon ceased to fear.
Several hours of paddling, sailing, and drifting
succeeded, until we could see no land on either
side of us. To add to our uncertainty, the moon
went down behind a western cloud, and we could
no longer steer by the points of the compass. A
heavy, chopping sea, meanwhile, made it impossible
to paddle to any practical purpose. The wind still
remained in our favor, though the tide set against
us, and produced the rough sea in which the boat
was laboring, and which kept us uncomfortably
wet.
When daylight came we had passed beyond this
sea, and saw before us a long stretch of low land,
about two miles away. We now took down our
sail, for fear it might attract attention, and by
paddling soon got out of the tide.
378 JED'S ADVENTURES.
We found the shore low, and, coasting along for
a favorable landing, came at last to a little creek.
Here Ave landed, and, while one of our j)arty was
left in charge of the boat, the others went in search
of fresh water, and also to see what kind of a
country Ave had landed in. The water was very
clear and inviting, and on our return from pros-
pecting we refreshed ourselves with a bath.
At one place, where there was a mass of the shell
rock peculiar to this coast, Ave discovered some
oysters, and gathered a large number, from Avhich
Ave made a luxurious breakfast. We found them
also in clumps of a dozen or so on the clay
bottom.
We noAV pulled up our boat, and, the sun being
quite hot, turned it three-quarters over and propped
it up for a slielter. We took the precaution, hoAV-
ever, to stick up bushes around the boat, for the
double purpose of concealment and of protec-
tion from the sun. As Ave Avere very tired Avith
our night of excitement and labor, Ave noAv Av^ent to
sleep under the shade of the boat.
The name of the country Ave had landed in Avas
unknoAvn to us, though we believed we Avere on
one of the several islands Avhicli here form a break-
Avater or harbor at the mouth of the Appalachicola
River.
Upon aAA^aking from our slumbers, aa^c started
out once more on a voyage of discover}^ Taking
a southerly direction Ave travelled about a mile,
ON THE APPALACIIICOLA BAY. 379
which brought us to the open Gulf, where a low
surf was rolling in upon the shore, and Avhere
before us the sea extended as far as the eye could
reach.
As Moran gazed on this sea, he said, " Here is
where we ought to be with our boat. Our block-
ading squadron has vessels cruising along this
coast, and any sail may prove a friendly one."
We found the land mostly wooded with pine of
good growth, and, m returning, came in sight of a
cultivated field of corn, which we, howevei', did
not think it prudent to disturb at that time.
After considerable discussion it was agreed that
as the tide began to ebb at about seven o'clock in
the evening, and as the nights were moonlit, it
would be a good plan to make use of these advan-
tages to reach the gulf or ocean side of this cape
or island where we had landed. So, after a hearty
supper of delicious oysters, we once more launched
our little craft. The wind, as it came from the
northeast, was not very favorable for our voyage,
but, by paddling along the shore, w^e had made
satisfactory progress when daybreak came. As we
were not very tired, after a good nap we for an
anchor tied a piece of shell rock to our rope which
we used as a cable, and began fishing. We caught
several Spanish mackerel and also a mullet, which
proved to be delicious eating.
To make a fire we Avere obliged once more to
discharge our gun, and, needing fuel, collected it
380 JED'S ADVENTURES.
from a wooded knoll near by. We soon liad a
hearty meal of fish, oysters, and baked sweet pota-
toes.
After this there crept over us such a sense of
contentment that we agreed to remain here for
several days, keep our fire going, and eat, sleep,
and rest.
In furtherance of this purpose we revisited the
wooded knoll for dry limbs, when we encountered
a man who had apparently been watching us.
" Heard a gun, and thought I'd come out and
see what was going on," said the stranger, rising
from the ground where he had been seated.
We now saw that he had a wooden leg, and that
his clothing was composed in part of Confederate
gray. He was very communicative, had a good-
natured face, and informed us that Ave were on the
island of St. George, and that he had been a Con-
federate soldier.
" I lost that leg at Gettysburg where you'un
Yanks fought we'uns three days." Seeing me ex-
change looks with Moran, he said, '' I knew you'ns
was Yanks as soon as I saw you. I don't knoAV
what 3' ou are doing heie, and I ain't going to ask.
I might arrest ye if I was in the service, but I am
done soldiering."
We laughed at the idea of a one-legged man
without weapons, arresting five strapping, two-
legged soldiers, with good muskets. The ex-Con-
federate joined in the fun, laughing when Grace
ON THE APPALACHICOLA BAY. 381
said that such an idea was enough to make a mule
laugh.
He told us that when he had been taken pris-
oner at Gettysburg he had been treated "right
well " by our men, who kindly took care of him
after his leg was amputated. That before the
war his father had kept the lighthouse on that
island.
" I don't bear you Yanks no grudge, noway ;
I've swapped corn bread for hard-tack, and tobacco
for coffee, with Yanks, and feel right brotherly
towards them."
This was said with such apparent good will that
we felt we could trust him when he inquired, —
" Where did you'ns all come from ? "
Moran must have seen this disposition in our
faces, for he said sharply, " Least said soonest
mended, boys."
" If 3^ou'll stay here a while I'll bring you some
corn bread and fixin's. You all used me well when
I was wounded, and I ain't the man to forget it,"
said the ex-Confederate.
In a short time the ex-reb returned, bringing us
half a ham, a card of matches, some meal, and a
pint of salt. In return we offered him a knife,
and a twenty-dollar Confederate note. He would
not accept anything, and passed the note back
with a grim smile. As he left us he shook us
each kindly by the hand, and said significantly,
" I hope you'll get through, Yanks."
382 JED'S ADVENTURES,
Many comments were passed on the occurrence
of the meeting, after the reb left.
"I tell you he is a square, honest fellow," said
Jed.
Moran shook his head ; while Robinson, as was
habitual with him, repeated gloomily, —
" Resky, resky ! "
" Robinson would say that to anything short of
a dead certainty," drawled Grace. It was agreed
by us all that a card of matches and some salt and
meal were desirable, and a certain good, while the
ills probable from the encounter might never come.
Jed thoughtfully emptied our powder into one
of the powder-horns, broke up the matches and put
them with the remaining percussion caps into the
other one, and stowed them away in the haversack
which he wore constantly about him.
That evening, acting on information received
from the ex-reb, — namely, that vessels of our
blockading squadron sometimes passed into the
harbor through the passage between Cape St.
George and the little island on the right, — we
again began a coasting voyage in that direction.
That night we passed outside the harbor, and,
perceiving an island on the opposite side of the
passage, we paddled across the channel and landed.
We remained here during the day, cooking the
oysters which remained of our store, and resting.
We had now become accustomed to rough seas, and
were so confident of the seaworthiness of our boat
ox THE APPALACHICOLA BAY. 383
that when Moran proposed to continue our coast-
ing voyage on the Gulf side of the island, we at
once adopted the proposition.
By such a course, even if we did not fall in with
any of our coasting vessels, we should be constantly
nearing Santa Rosa Island, where a force of Federal
soldiers were stationed, and at the same time would
have as good a chance of encountering some vessel
of our blockading squadron as if we remained in
one place.
Our map embraced but a very small part of this
territory, but Grace sketched the remainder as he
remembered it. We coasted along as proposed for
several days, with no incident worthy of record.
Late one afternoon, after an unusual season of
calms, a sudden storm came up, which tossed our
boat with great violence, thi'owing us into con-
fusion and fear. Before we could unship our
mast or furl our sail, the mast was torn violently
from the boat. The wind increased in fury every
moment, and it soon became so dark that we could
not tell whither we were driving. At first Moran
had endeavored to keep our craft head on to the
seas, but finally, with set lips and frowning brow,
put her before the wind, which drove us on through
a seethingr- sea.
o
We were ordered to sit in the bottom of the boat,
and keep her clear of water by baling with some
large shells we had on board. Our boat was tossed
about like an eggshell, and every huge, white-
384 JED'S ADVENTURES.
capped wave threatened to ingulf us. Our voices
could scarcely be heard above the roaring of the
waves and the shrieking of the winds. At one
moment we were lifted on huge, mountainous bil-
lows, and at the next sunk deep down into the
trough between them.
In the midst of this peril Moran exclaimed,
" The breakers ! Breakers ahead ! " and above the
howling winds we heard a noise like a ceaseless can-
nonade. It was the roar of the breakers as they
dashed on the shore. We were now driven with
merciless force towards the coast, and the sound of
the breakers grew terribly near. The white caps
of the coast threatened to break over us as we
neared them. We were soon in their midst, and
saw their white froth as they curled and broke on
the shore, towards which we were being driven.
" Stick to the boat," shouted Moran, " until you
hear me shout, ' Jump ! ' "
A giant wave now caught up the boat, and hurled
it with great force towards the shore, while another
came hurrying in our rear, threatening to over-
whelm us as we receded. " Take the line and be
ready to jump with the next wave," shouted Moran.
A wave more threatening than any that had pre-
ceded it now came roaring astern, swept us inshore,
and as it was ready to recede we jumped and ran,
dragging the boat after us. Twice the waves struck
us after this. When we reached a place of safety
we turned, and found that Moran was missing.
ON THE APPALACHICOLA BAY, 385
He had been swept away, though Robinson still
clung, half-drowned, to the boat, now filled with
water. I made a rush and pulled him from the
bows of the boat, where he was clinging, and car-
ried him to the shore. We still clung to the line
that held the boat, hoping to save her ; but before
we could drag her from the breakers the frail rope
broke, and she drifted away.
Poor Jack Moran ! brave Jack ! where was he ?
The answer seemed to come from the hungry, roar-
ing waves, " Drowned, drowned ! " Yes, he was
drowned in trying to save our lives. We had no
time for grief. We watched, and walked the shore
all night in the rain, hoping that Jack might be
found.
The morning came and the storm continued.
We found our boat, half filled with sand and nearly
full of water, cast on the beach about a mile to the
left of us.
On removing the sand we found one of our mus-
kets and a few sweet potatoes, but the oars and
everything else of value were gone.
We now had left a small drinking-cup, two
powder-horns, some matches and percussion caps
in good order, a rusty musket, our compass and
knife, a haversack, one-half a canteen, a small piece
of bacon and four sweet potatoes, and a boat with-
out paddles, oars, or sails.
We were on a sandy key of land (we knew not
where), without water or food other than that I have
386 JED'S adv^ntuhes.
stated. We were very thirsty, and our first thought
was to look for fresh water. Travelling either north
or south brought us to salt water, while running east
and west was a long stretch of white sand as far
as the eye could reach, with a mossy growth over
the soil, and with here and there a stunted pal-
metto tree. We were now in great distress for
water, for although we explored on every side, there
was none to be found. To add to our misfortunes,
Robinson was much exhausted and very sick ; and,
as I had become much attached to him, I would not
abandon him to search for food or water.
Jed and Grace, however, set out on a journey
of exploration, leaving me to care for Robinson.
Soon after the boys were gone, the sun came out
very hot, while the nearest approach to a shade I
could find was under a scrubby palmetto-tree. Here
I carried Robinson, who was now so weak that he
could hardly speak, and when he did speak, to my
distress, the single word he uttered was, "Water."
"We have no water," I explained: "the boys
have gone in search of some."
After a wliile he feebly said, " Why didn't they
dig?"_
" Dig where ? " I inquired.
" In the sand — anywhere." Seeing my incredu
lous look he explained, " If you dig down to the
level of the salt water you will come to water
which is filtered through the sand, and it will be
fresh."
ON THE APPALACHICOLA BAY. 387
I at once began to dig vigorously, and soon had
the satisfaction of reaching water ; but I was still
incredulous, and dipped up some of the water and
doubtingly held it to my lips to test it. I was pre-
pared to find it salt. It was fresh !
No one who has not passed through similar trials
can understand the relief and joy I felt. It was
indeed a rescue from despair.
In a few hours Jed and Grace returned, worn
out and anxious, bringing one of the boat pad-
dles they had found a mile below on the shore, but
without having found water. Their surprise and
joy was great when I gave them the cup, and,
pointing to the hollow, explained how I had
obtained it. The water, though slightly brackish,
was fairly good. That afternoon we found some
large shell -fish, which gave us a tough kind of
meat, made a fire and cooked them, and ended the
day with our hearts full of gloomy forebodings at
the prospect before us.
The next day we washed out the boat, but
found, on launching her, that she leaked badly.
She had been strained either by the surf, or by
the violent wrenching of the mast from her in
the storm.
We did the best we could in repairing her, for it
was imperative that we should get away from the
sand island or cape on which we had been cast, as
food was scarce, there was but little shade from the
intense heat of the sun, the mosquitoes were fierce,
388 JED'S ADVENTURES.
and, to complete our discomfort, the sand was
infested with an insect that bit and annoyed us.
It was agreed that while we miglit find a better
place, it was scarcely possible to find a worse one.
With a few shell-fish for food we once more
launched our craft into the now calm sea. We
had wrenched out the one remaining seat of our
boat, and had made it into a very poor substitute
for a paddle.
All day we took turns In laboring at the paddles
and in baling out water. Sometimes we were
carried out of our course by the tides, and some-
times assisted by them in the westerly direction
we still pursued. As we had no means of carrying
fresh water with us, we often landed to obtain it.
The long, barren island or cape seemed without
end ; and as we were weakened by hunger, and our
paddles were almost useless for our work, we made
but little headway in our cruise. Jed had cut a
short pole, which was, however, of but little use
to us.
It was nearly sundown one afternoon when we
had landed, very much discouraged, on the long
stretch of sand. We were cooking some of the
coarse shell-fish which had now for more than a
week been our only food. We had used our last
match, and were discussing the probabilities of the
future. Jed was busy attempting a new way of
cooking the shell-fish, when, suddenly dropping his
dish, he pointed out to the open sea. He was
ON THE APPALACHICOLA BAY, 389
pale and trembling with excitement, and unable to
articulate. We looked, liowever, in the direction
in which he pointed, and saw a large vessel, south-
east from us, steaming along about a mile from the
shore.
It took us but a moment to jump into our boat
in the endeavor to reach her. We paddled with
all our strength, while Jed waved the remains of
his shirt on the pole he had cut a few days pre-
vious.
The waves ran high. Robinson protested that
it was " resky," and said, " She may be a rebel
craft, and Ave are likely to get so far away from
land as not to be able to get back."
We were deaf, liowever, to all his forebodings,
and determined, as Grace said, to " bunch all our
chances in an attempt to reach the craft ahead of
us."
We paddled with renewed vigor, and the steamer
came nearer and nearer. We could now hear the
throbbing of her engines, and see the men on her
decks. We waved our hats and shouted franti-
call}^, but our voices were weakened by hardships,
and as she still continued on her course, we appar-
ently had not been heard, though she was now
not over two-thirds of a mile from us and dead
ahead. She passed us ; " Great God ! could we
not attract her attention ? " Jed waved his shirt
frantically, but she still kept on her course.
Grace, who had taken no part hitherto in shout-
390 JED'S ADVENTURES.
•
ing, here dropped his paddle, stood up, inflated his
lungs, and uttered a piercing yell that startled us.
We now saw men hurrying on her deck. She
changed her course in our direction. She had
apparently heard Grace, and if so, we were rescued.
''What craft is that?" hailed Grace, as she
came near us.
" The United States gunboat Mercedes. What
boat is that?" came the answer and question from
the steamer.
"A boat with escaping Union prisoners," was
our answer.
In a moment we were alongside, were on deck,
and thanked God that we were once more under the
protection of the '' Old Flag," for which we had
suffered so much. It was now the 24th of Novem-
ber, almost three months since we had begun our
escape from Anderson ville. .
The kind treatment received by us on board of
the Mei'cedes will never be forgotten. The cap-
tain told us that he had stopped at the island of
St. George to take in w^ater, and while there an
ex-rebel soldier had told him of meeting a party of
Union soldiers, and had earnestly urged him to
search for them. The captain, with this in view,
had steamed along the coast.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
UNDER THE OLD FLAG AGAIN.
TT had been a peculiarity of our Andersonville
life that prisoners manifested but little interest
in each other's previous history. They were not
generally curious regarding a man's past life, seem-
ingly not caring from whence he came, or what his
name was. They Avere content to take him as they
found him, without further inquiry. They often
invented names expressive of personality or char-
acter. Illustrative of this, two of Andersonville's
most prominent personages w^ere known as "Limber
Jim " and " Big Pete," and very few among the
prisoners knew their real names, or took pains to
inquire them. The hideous struggles and miseries
of this life crowded out, as non-essential, the minor
curiosity common to men.
In our little circle John Moran was apparently
an exception to this rule ; but as I have never been
able (though I have persistently made inquiries)
to learn anything of his parents or friends, I am in
doubt if this was really the name of my brave com-
rade.
Jed and I were known only as Jed and Dick.
391
392 JED'S ADVENTURES.
On our arrival on the Mercedes^ Robinson, who
was feeble, was placed under the surgeon's charge.
The morning after our arrival he sent for Jed and
myself. I found him lying on a cot in the mate's
cabin. He was dressed in clean linen, and a suit
lent him by the captain. Robinson had endeared
himself to us all by his conservative good sense, as
well as by his goodness and rugged honesty. As
I approached him under his new surroundings, the
same familiar look which I had so often noticed
now startled me.
The reader may, at some time in his life, have
seen a face, or an expression on a face, which, though
strangely familiar, he was unable to connect with
a former experience. So now, as several times
before, I found myself endeavoring to grasp the
clew to this striking but intangible remembrance.
On entering, Jed sat down by his side, and in
his sympathizing manner took his hand, saying,
"What's the matter, old fellow?"
Robinson shook his head, saying, " Don't know
as I shall pull through to get home, boys. Doubt-
ful, doubtful."
" Oh, yes, you will," said Jed. " It's enough to
make the dead alive, to know that we are under
the old flag ; isn't it, Dick ? " Then in lower, rev-
erent tones he said to Robinson, *' God has been so
good to us all ! Do you remember what he says in
one of his beautiful psalms ? ' For I said in my haste,
I am cut off before thine eyes ; nevertheless thou
UNDER THE OLD FLAG AGAIN. 393
heardest the voice of my supplications when I
cried unto thee. ... Be of good courage, and he
shall strengthen your heart.' Don't that fit your
case ? "
I too sat down by Robinson's side to comfort
him. I asked liim, for the first time, to what regi-
ment he belonged.
'' The — th Minnesota," was his reply, " but I am
really a Massachusetts man. God bless the old
State ! "
" Why, that's our State ! " exclaimed Jed.
Robinson continued, " I have a son in Massachu-
setts, and if anything should happen to me before
we reach the North, I have written this letter, which
I wish you to give to him, with my blessing. I
have been in pursuit of fortune West, these long
years, and have neglected him."
I took the letter from his hands, glanced at the
superscription — it was directed to Richard Nick-
erson — it was for me. The man before me was
my father. I now understood the meaning of that
familiar look which I had so many times tried to
connect with my remembrance. It was a child's
remembrance of his long absent father's face. Rob-
inson was my father's middle name.
In a few days we were landed at Pensacola,
and from there were sent to New Orleans,
where we received clothing and transportation
North.
Upon our arrival in Washington we received a
394 JED'S ADVENTURES.
furlough of sixty days, and, accompanied by my
father, now much improved in health, we Avere in
a short time at our old home again.
A correspondent of a newspaper, to whom the
captain of the Mercedes had given an outline of
our escape from Anderson ville, had sent a long and
exaggerated account of our adventures to a New
York paper, under the caption of " Out of the
Clasp of Death." Included in tliis was an account
of my strange meeting with my father. Other
newspapers had copied this, and the Associated
Press had sent an abridged account l)roadcast over
the land. Thus it was that, although we had not
heard from home for many months, and knew
nothing of events that had taken place there since
we entered the Wilderness campaign, yet the home
people knew our adventures, and our coming was
not unexpected.
In our impatience to reach home, the way seemed
longer and the stations more numerous than they
ever were before. As we alighted from the cars at
the little station of Centerboro, the wdiole village
seemed to have turned out to w^elcome us. My
father was received as one from the dead by his old
neighbors and friends ; while Mink barked franti-
cally, and almost turned himself into a double knot
with delight.
Among the crowd on the platform, to our great
astonishment, w^as Colonel Gruff, with his servant
Smutty, who wore one of the colonel's best uni-
UNDER THE OLD FLAG AGAIN. 395
forms for the occasion. The old veteran was glad
enough to see his " poys."
As we started for home I said, " Come up to the
house with us, colonel." Whereupon the old vete-
ran took my aunt by the hand, and with much
blushing on her part, cleared his throat and said, as
if giving orders on parade, " Shentlemen, dis is my
vife. Der nicest leetle voman dot ever vas ! "
It seems that after I was taken prisoner, the colo-
nel had written to my aunt. She had replied, and
was so inconsolable that he wrote again to quiet
her fears ; but, as she refused to be comforted, w^hen
the army had settled down to the siege of Peters-
burg, lie got a furlough and came North to try his
personal influence in soothing her. He finally
carried his ideas of consolation so far as to propose
marriage, and was accepted.
Covered with scars and honors, and with the
brevet rank of general, he shortly afterwards re-
signed his commission, and settled down to domes-
tic life, for my aunt had refused to be fully com-
forted on any other terms.
Lieutenant Weston was killed at Cold Harbor,
while bravely leading his compan}' into that mur-
derous charge. Previous to this he had been on a
furlough home, where, in the presence of my aunt
and others, he had fully confessed all the circum-
stances of receiving the money in the manner he
had previously narrated to us.
Although the money could not be found, the
396 JEDS ADVENTURES.
squire paid my aunt, with interest, the full sum
received by his son.
Months afterwards a tin box containing the money
was discovered among some refuse mattress straw
in the squire's barn.
My father, being unfit for military duty, soon got
his discharge from the army, and settled down in
his native town. He wrote to pay the taxes on his
Western farm, and was informed that it had become
the centre of a growing town, and could be sold
for a large sum of money.
Uncle John Warren came to see us, and we had
many invitations from various quarters to make
visits.
Under General Grant the war was now assuming
such a phase that even Silas Eaton condescendingly
admitted that affairs were managed " a leetle "
better than he could do it himself.
The people of our village church arose to greet
us as we entered the church the next Sunday morn-
ing. The dear old pastor, with tears streaming
down his cheeks, thanked God for our great deliv-
erance from death.
I wish that I might here end my story, but truth
compels the addition of another chapter, where sor-
row clasps hands with triumph and victory.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR.
OUR furlough passed rapidly away. It was now
time for us to report for duty with our regi-
ment. Our commissions as first lieutenants had
reached us a few days after our arrival, and in
bright new uniforms we had visited at pai'ties and
receptions tendered us. Jed's noble face and manly
presence inspired respect wherever he went.
We were soon at the front, where we were re-
ceived by our old companions in arms with enthusi-
asm. The regiment was reduced to a mere skele-
ton, and we missed many familiar faces.
The last days of the Confederacy were drawing
near. The iron resolution of the brave men in
gray, who, half-starved, for so many months had
carried the standard of revolt, now began to weaken.
Grant drew his lines with a death-like grasp around
them. One by one he cut off the railroad lines by
which they received supplies.
The able Confederate commander, with the in-
tention of compelling the retirement of our left
flank, and relieving the pressure by breaking the
Union lines near where it rested on the Appomat-
397
398 JED'S ADVENTURES.
tox, east of Petersburg, surprised and captured
Fort Stedman on the 25th of March.
Grant, having determined to open the campaign
of the year on the 29th of March, meanwhile with
inflexible tenacity went steadily forward, pushing
his preparations for a grand movement to be directed
against the Confederate right flank, to cut their
railroad communications. The movement, though
sudden, was anticipated by General Lee.
Breaking camp early on the morning of the 29th,
the force of Avhicli we now formed a part moved by
ihe rear and left, in order to make this flank move-
ment without observation. The day before Jed had
oeen slightly wounded by a minie ball in the hip,
and the surgeon declared he was not in condition
to endure a march. I, too, urged him to remain
l)ehiiid. Jed, however, was quietly persistent.
'' Whether I live or die," said he, " it shall never
be said that I willingly went to the rear when my
regiment was marching to the front."
It was of no use to remonstrate with him, for,
though very sweet-natured, he was also immovably
obstinate where he thought his duty was concerned.
As our line of battle advanced, it was compelled
to cross Hatch's Run before it could reach a fort
on the opposite side of the river. All but one man
of the Confederates had left this fort. This man
had gathered the muskets abandoned by his less
determined comrades, and single-handed attempted
to contest our advance. The stream was too deep
THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR. 399
for fording, but we found a tree fallen across the
run, which served the purpose of a foot-bridge.
]\Ian after man fell dead from the fire of this
one Confederate, AA^hile attempting to cross the
log.
Seeing that one man was to delay an army,
O'Keif, who commanded our company, sent several
of our best marksmen to the tops of the trees, and
the brave Confederate, after killing seven of our
men, was in turn mortally wounded.
With swords and muskets in hand we went
over the enemy's works. The Confederate de-
fender wore the stripes of a major, and was not yet
dead.
" This man is a hero," said Jed, as he knelt by
his side to offer help and consolation. The rebel
smiled and said, —
" You boys were too much for one reb, but some
one must do the fighting when cowards run."
Something familiar in his voice arrested my
attention ; it was Walker, ^vhose acquaintance Ave
had made at Fort Monroe, when Ave Avere drum-
mers. He lived but a short time. We buried him
Avith the honors of war, and inscribed on the
Avooden slab above his grave, the story of his
heroic defence of the fort. His SAvord and Avatch
were afterwards sent to his friends.
On the clear, frosty morning of April 1st, Ave
moved toAvards Five Forks, Avhere Slieridan had
fought the day before. The Southside Railroad
400 JED\S ADVENTURES.
might be termed the life line, that connected Lee
with his capital.
To guard this road, the rebel commander had
barricaded it with a long line of works, running
parallel with it, and it was defended by his bravest
troops.
Sheridan's plan was to attract their attention by
deploying cavalry in their front, while we were to
take them in the rear by surprise. Silently we
marched over this ravine-furrowed country.
At last we reached a hill where we looked down
through the trees on the defences of the enemy.
Our lines were formed, and then like an eagle
from some mountain crag, we descended on the
foe. Thus surprised in the rear they threw doAvn
their muskets, and surrendered in crowds. They
soon perceived, however, that they had been out-
manoeuvred but not outnumbered. A rebel officer,
seeing this, seized a musket, exclaiming, '' We will
whip you yet ! " and shot down one of our men.
A fight now took place which baffles description.
In the quick rush on the works, over rough
ground, our company had been broken into two
parts. Brave Captain O'Keif, on reaching the
works, saw a rebel flag leaning against a tree, and
shouted, — •
" Come on, men, we'll have that flag ! " and, fol-
lowed by a dozen men, sprang in among the enemy.
To reach the flag they were obliged to pass through
a crowd of rebels, until four or five luuidred men
Ttin LAST DAYS 6F THE WAR. 401
separated them from their comrades. It was at
this moment that the enemy rallied, and Captain
O'Keif and his brave men found themselves cut
off and all hope of escape destroyed. A rebel
officer sprang at O'Keif's throat, calling upon him
to surrender, but the brave Irish captain had no
idea of surrendering. He seized the officer in his
muscular arms, and hurled him bodily into the
mass of foes confronting him. They were in such
close quarters that neither party could fire without
shooting their friends. Terrible blows were given
and received. The contest Avas desperate; our
own men advanced as they fought. At that
moment the baffled foe poured in a deadly volley,
and brave O'Keif fell dead, with his SAVord in his
hand.
This fight was at its height, when a bugle blast
sounded, and Sheridan's cavalry from a clump of
woods a fcAV rods distant came dashing in upon
them.
The enemy turned to run. It was too late.
Five thousand Confederates surrendered.
Sheridan rushed by me like a madman, shouting
as he swung his clinched fist, " Smash 'em, smash
'em, boys ! "
The Southside Railroad was in our hands. The
fight was over and it was nearly dark. Jed had led
the men of his company, broken from our ranks,
into another part of the enemy's lines.
Exhausted with marching and fighting, I had
46S JED'S ADVENTURE^.
fallen asleep after the conflict. It was late that
night that word came to us that Jed Avas missing.
It was a lonely night search with the silence broken
by the groans of the wounded.
During the search we found O'Keif, with his
dead foes and his fallen comrades around him.
We dug a shallow trench and buried them under
a great oak, emblematic of their brave hearts. As
we advanced over the tangled abatis, where the
dead lay thickest, and the wounded feebly moaned,
I heard a voice clearly but feebly singing, —
" * Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,' "
and then as if gathering strength to testify for the
Master, after a pause, the voice rang out clearer
and louder, —
*' ' And shall I blush to own his cause,
Or fear to speak his name.' "
We found Jed where he had fallen in the charge.
The morning light was now breaking, and his face,
though pale, was lighted up with an indescribable
light, as if he had been communing with angels.
"Are you hurt badly, Jed?" I asked, while my
voice was choked with tears.
His blood-saturated clothing told the story, with-
out an answer. He put his hand in mine, and
with the same brave smile that was a joy to all
who knew him, said faintly, —
The last days of tHjS war. 40S
" I'm awful glad to see you once more, Dick."
Other comrades who loved him gathered around
him (and who did not love dear Jed?) — and after
a moment's silence he said more feebly, —
" I'm dying, Dick ; God knows I'm not afraid, —
and I'm glad to die for my country. Give my love
to Aunt Tempy and Gruff and Mink."
" Can I do anything for you, Jed ? " I in-
quired.
"Yes; turn me over so I can see the sunrise."
I heard him whispering a prayer. The sun
came up, dispelling the morning mists and painting
with softened light the eastern clouds, until they
looked like the hills of a heavenly landscape far
beyond. In a camp near by the fife and drum
sounded the reveille, and the command was heard,
" Fall in, fall in ! " At this familiar sound, Jed,
who had been lying with closed eyes, and fast
ebbing strength, tried to rise, but fell back again
on my arm.
" Dick, I love you. Tell Gruff to meet me up
there."
He said no more after this, but fell asleep with
the sunlight kissing his pallid face, and with the
reveille still sounding. He awoke, I trust, to
answer to the more glorious roll-call of a Captain
whom he loved.
In the cemetery of his native town there may
be seen a plain headstone, ever crowned in summer
404 mb'S ADVEMTUM^.
time with flowers, and which bears this inscrip-
tion : —
To THE Memory of
Lieutenant Jedediah Hoskins,
Who fell mortally wounded while leading a
CHARGE, at the SOUTHSIDE RaILROAD NEAR
Petersburg, April 2d, 18G5.
He was a soldier of the Union and a soldier op
THE Cross.
More than two decades have passed since these
events. I am now a man in middle life, Avith whit-
ening locks, but I can never forget this boy-soldier,
the friend of my youth, who illustrated the courage
of the American soldier and the devotion of a sim-
ple Christian.
That we have an undivided nation, with not a
star erased from our flag nor a slave beneath its
folds, is because of such men, who faced death to
secure "one country and one flag" for you and
yours.
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